Ben is a failed writer turned to be a English literature professor. During his years of teaching, he developed an almost obsessive interest in Chekhov's "Lady with the Little Dog", which tells the story of the transformation of adultery into true love. His "happily ever after" has begun to feel more like "the end". When his wife, Audrey goes to Paris to meet the publisher of her first novel, he engages in an affair with Mercedes, a young student from his literature class. The situation becomes very quickly out of control. In the end, his Chekhovian fantasy will leave no one untouched.