Esther is a 40-year-old pregnant woman living in a modern metropolis. She develops psychosomatic symptoms but she does not know why. She wants to name her baby Odette, the principal character of The Swan Lake, swan during the day, human at night.

Miss Odette doesn't blame you for your lack of manners. There's a lot of tricky social situations out there, folks. So she's got some guidelines for you. Lot's of guidelines.

尼克（布莱恩·格林伯格 Bryan Greenberg 饰）是一位小有名气的作家，在阔别了故乡十年之后，他终于打算重归故里。然而，当初为了自己的新书能够叫好叫座，他将周遭人的很多秘密写了进去，导致有很多人直到今天都不肯原谅他，对他冷眼相看。 这一次归乡，尼克还必须面对自己十年前抛弃的初恋女友汉娜（劳拉·普莱潘 Laura Prepon 饰），如今汉娜依然单身，独自抚养着九岁的儿子，虽然汉娜向尼克反复保证这个孩子和尼克并没有半点关系，但是尼克还是从蛛丝马迹之间看到了这个孩子和自己的千丝万缕的关联。更糟糕的是，从前总是欺负他们的小霸王雷（沃伦·克里斯蒂 Warren Christie 饰）现在似乎正在热烈的追求着汉娜。

这部电影在厄斯塔什与其祖母奥代特·罗贝尔居住的公寓中拍摄。祖母复述了自己在法国历史上跨越六代人的身世。除了简短的无声序幕后，整部电影是从两个固定的机位以一个镜头拍摄的：一部在右侧拍摄奥代特，厄斯塔什于左前方背对镜头；一部近距离拍摄奥黛特。厄斯塔什通过于拍摄中在开拍版上做出标记的方式，让我们认识到两部摄影机交替工作的运行时间，一部摄影机拍摄时，另一部可以换交卷。一盘接着一盘，一共用了10盘。交卷用完时，电影结束。厄斯塔什以这样一种方式复述了历史，即“时间”不会丢失，时间等同于电影的持续展现。这部电影只在法国电视上播放过一次剪辑版，而完整版只在厄斯塔什自己的公寓中对他的 8 个朋友放映过一次。——参见《电影的虚拟生命》D.N.罗德维克 华明 华伦译

The film is based on the true story of Special Operations Executive French-born agent Odette Sansom, who was captured by the Germans in 1943, condemned to death and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp to be executed. However, against all odds she survived the war and testified against the prison guards at the Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials. She was awarded the George Cross in 1946; the first woman ever to receive the award, and the only woman who has been awarded it while still alive. (From Wikipedia, licensed under CC-BY-SA)

凯瑟琳·弗洛扮演一个生活单调的女售货员和两个孩子的母亲，尽管生活有很多不如意但是非常乐观。艾尔伯特·杜邦迪的角色是一个作家，尤其受生活单调的母亲们喜爱。但是他的事业和感情受到打击以后就崩溃了。