Jean is a successful painter who leaves his mistress, though he stops intermittently to phone her with explanations. Sometimes she is responsive but other times hangs up on him. Meanwhile, a 16-year-old male prostitute with whom Jean had a brief homosexual affair stalks the painter.

The action takes place in Paris in 1959, with a flashback. A teenager in search of a mother he has never known enters manhood and discovers love.

A verlan discussion in a cafe between two young people about a motorbike and girls.