After being told that he has a short time left to live, Alec Webb decides he does not want to die in the gloomy and impoverished hospitals of England. With the money of his sister and his wife’s brothers, he moves his entire family to the Lou Mas, a villa in the French Riviera. His three young children—Will, Molly, and James—are dragged along to France without being able to speak the language and having a new school to attend. Alec’s wife, Barbara, loves him dearly and goes along with the dismantlement of their lives. She manages their borrowed money with little experience and blindly hires servants and cooks for the home. Although they believed that their time in the Riviera would be short, Alec miraculously remains in remission for three years. Molly grows into her teenage years and, like her brothers, exhibits Alec’s seriousness more so than any traits from Barbara’s personality. One day she catches a ride home from Eric Wilkinson, a local jack-of-all-trades, and brings him home to greet her mother. Barber begins her affair with Wilkinson around the same time that Alec is finally moved to the hospital. He stays with them in Lou Mas, and Barbara notices how distant her children are. She internally blames Molly for the estrangement and calls her a cold girl. After stalling their time at Lou Mas for so long, Barbara’s brother cuts their funds, forcing them to rent a smaller apartment from a widow living near Alec’s hospital. Alec passes away quietly in front of the doctor, and they host a funeral nearby with family and acquaintances from Lou Mas. By the time of the funeral afterparty, Alec’s existence has slipped from all of their minds.