Socially awkward and perpetually ill at ease, Manfred Baumann spends his evenings drinking and surreptitiously observing Adele Bedeau, the sullen but alluring waitress at a drab bistro in the small French town of Saint-Louis. One day, she vanishes into thin air. Georges Gorski, a detective haunted by his failure to solve one of his first murder cases, is called in to investigate. He sets his sights on Manfred.