A woman who has never had much trouble choosing between love or money tries to teach a man the tricks of the trade in this sly romantic comedy. Irene (Audrey Tautou) is an attractive thirtysomething woman who lives a comfortable life by taking up with older and very wealthy men. She meets Jean (Gad Elmaleh), a handsome bartender who works a variety of odd jobs to keep himself afloat. She ends up enjoying a romantic evening with Jean, that is until she discovers he's broke.

Camille (Audrey Tautou. Amelie, The Da Vinci Code) works evenings as an office cleaning woman and makes graceful drawings in her free time while living in the attic of a Parisian apartment block. Philibert (Laurent Stocker) is a young, aristocratic history buff living - temporarily - in an apartment lower down, part of the estate of his late grandmother. He has let out part of it to up-and-coming cook, Franck (Guillaume Canet), a gruff young loner and womaniser with a genuine love for his frail grandmother, Paulette (Francoise Bertin). When Camille falls ill, Philibert insists she stay with the two of them so he can look after her. And even though she and Franck clash, the trio manage to live together and learn from each other.