Jacques is a disheveled police lieutenant in Normandy. An enigmatic woman sends him to a hotel where the owner's been reported missing. Jacques' presence unnerves the wife and son of the missing man as well as the police assigned to investigate. Is the woman a figment of his mind? He sees her at a distance from time to time; she's a ringer for an actress who died in a road accident 36 years before and was the mistress of the missing man. Jacques follows his hunches and visions as his colleagues become impatient with is actions. We also learn bits about a tragedy in his recent past. Is he ill or the only one with a clue about what's going on?