Plot Summary

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, and most in Charlie's current life are unaware of his concert-pianist past. This new life, in which he is caring for his youngest brother, minor Fido Saroyan, is to escape the pain associated with his 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 prostitute neighbor Clarisse, who looks after Fido when needed and is Charlie's paid bed partner when he needs human connection. Charlie's life becomes more complex with two developments. First, he is attracted to Léna, a waitress at Plyne's--who is also admired by Plyne himself although he doubts that she would ever be attracted to him. Second: Charlie's eldest brother, not-so-adept criminal Chico Saroyan, solicits his help in eluding two criminal associates, Momo and Ernest, whom he and their last brother Richard Saroyan bilked in what was their only job together.—Huggo