美丽的欧洲公主前往美国纽约，寻找到她六年前爱上的报纸专栏作家。在豪华的纽约酒店，她被一位善良的服务员误认为是女仆。酒店的行李员在遇到这名欧洲公主后也开始忽视他的女朋友。

讲述了一位老派的侍者雷诺斯经历了一场谋杀与反谋杀的故事。雷诺斯独居于市中心的公寓里。他性格古怪，活在自己的世界里，一成不变。邻居米兰的失踪事件打破了雷诺斯平静的生活，雷诺斯怀疑是邻居金发男子谋杀了米兰。对真相的追踪也使雷诺斯闯入金发男子与其女友蒂娜的生活中。随着雷诺斯挖掘出更多丰富细节，他也逐步陷入危险之中。

Given an hour off from his job as a cafe waiter, Charlie rescues Mabel from a thug, is given an invitation to her home, and arrives presenting a card which falsely identifies him as the Greek Ambassador. Before he can get back to work, her parents invite him to a future garden party. Her jealous lover has Charlie followed back to the cafe. Charlie is a hit at the garden party but, as he leaves to return to work, the rival invites everyone to go with him to the cafe so Charlie will be exposed

故事讲述了一位老派的侍者雷诺斯经历了一场谋杀与反谋杀的故事。雷诺斯独居于市中心的公寓里。他性格古怪，活在自己的世界里，一成不变。邻居米兰的失踪…

悉心照顾老公和儿子的全职妈妈星野友美（永作博美 饰）、在电影公司供职的职场女强人早川薰（石田百合子 饰）以及家境平庸心宽体胖的三上春子（佐藤仁美 饰），是现年41岁的老同学。学生时代她们形影不离，彼此心中留下了快乐、悲伤的回忆。借着同学会的机缘，好朋友们再次见面，友美却从闲谈间察觉丈夫洋介（藤木直人 饰）似乎和薰抱持着不正常的关系。在一次争执引发的意外后，两人惊讶地发现她们居然互换了身体。万般无奈之下，她们只能各自进入对方的生活，品味着从未有过的生活方式和苦辣酸甜。与此同时，春子的丈夫则和名叫远山冬子（谷村美月 饰）的女性继续保持联系，看似大大咧咧的春子，也隐隐察觉到丈夫的秘密。三个女性，共同经历着人生的变动…… 本片根据冈田惠和的原作改编。

The film is based on the eponymous 1960 novel by author Peter Weiss. In this autobiographical text, the author describes the years of his childhood and youth in Germany in the 20s and 30s as well as the flight of his half-Jewish family from persecution by the Nazis. This odyssey also portrays the young first-person narrator’s struggle for his artistic existence, as he was striving to establish himself as a painter and writer. In a free, sensual essay between fiction and document, realistic description and stylised invention, the film attempts to kindle today’s flame based on the past’s, and to create a new and vibrant third work from it.