This is the surreal and poetic story of Colin, an idealistic and inventive young man, who meets Chloé, a young woman who seems to be the incarnation of a blues by Duke Ellington. Their idyllic marriage turns to sorrow when Chloé becomes ill, due to a water lilly growing in her lung. To pay for her medical care, in a fantastical Paris, Colin must work in increasingly absurd conditions, while their apartment falls to bits around them and their circle of friends, including talented Nicolas, and Chick, a fanatic of the philosoper Jean-Sol Sartre, disintegrates.