Once a successful concert pianist under his birth name Edouard Saroyan, Charlie Koller is now a pianist playing honky-tonk music in a sleazy Paris bar owned and operated by Plyne, most in Charlie's current life who do not know of his past as that concert pianist. This new life, where he is caring for the youngest of his brothers, minor Fido Saroyan, is to escape the pain associated with that past life, which included a marriage to waitress Thérèse Saroyan. Charlie has always been a shy, reserved man, coming out of that concert pianist life which has made him retreat further into his shell where he only feels comfortable behind the keyboard. Besides Fido, the only person of any meaning in Charlie's life is his neighbor, prostitute Clarisse, who, in addition to looking after Fido when needed, is solely there as his paid bed partner in his need for some human connection. Charlie's life becomes more complex with two developments. First, he and Léna, a waitress at Plyne's, start to fall for each other, her interest in him which he first learns from Plyne, who admitted to him that he too was attracted to her but that he knew she would never be attracted to him. And second, Charlie's oldest brother, not very adept criminal Chico Saroyan, comes looking for his help in eluding two criminal associates, Momo and Ernest, who he and their last brother Richard Saroyan bilked in what was their one and only job together.