At  the  end  of  the  1950s,  Rachel,  a  young  office  clerk  living  in  a  provincial town, meets Philippe, a well-educated man from a wealthy family.  They  share  an  intense  but  short-lived  romance,  from  which  a  daughter is born. Over the next 50 years, their lives will be shaped by the unconditional love between a mother and her daughter, overshadowed by the impossible love of a woman for a man that rejects her, and of a daughter for an absent and abusive father.