A U.S. Foreign Service officer returns home to Paris and expects to pick things up with his on-and-off again girlfriend after a long assignment overseas. Instead, he finds that she has moved on, possibly for good.

In 1960s France, the U.S. ambassador and his wife travel to visit their newly remarried son in a remote village. He lashes out at his family, and begins to understand his failures as a parent and their effects on those whom he loves.

An American expat who lives in Rome struggles to understand his adopted country, especially the Italian language. When he finally finds the right teacher, he is overjoyed, but her unique personal life quickly pervades their lessons and confounds their rapport.