An orphan enchanted by stories and the incantatory power of words, Genevieve lives an isolated existence as a maid to the widow Patin in a village cafe on the Normandy coast in the early 20th century. Forced to flee the village, she comes under the spell of a charismatic spinner of words, a poet who captivates every woman around him — his mother, his mistress, his niece, his niece's governess, and eventually, his new maid, who soon begins to spin a story of her own.