Malina, a young Iranian immigrant, visits Jean in his beautiful downtown apartment. She wants to know why her boyfriend Denis, who is working on Jean's apartment, lingers after hours, showering in front of Jean's wife Paula. Step by step, Jean and Paula get to know Denis and Malina, sliding from prostitution to friendship, from unacknowledged desires to more sincere affection, from love to family - a new kind of family, including the desire for a child. Overcoming trials and taboos, this quartet lays the concrete foundations for a new ideal of love, with great freedom, both carnal and intellectual.