It's 1941 but France is trapped in the nineteenth century, governed by steam and Napoleon V, where scientists vanish mysteriously. Avril (Marion Cotillard), a teenage girl, goes in search of her missing scientist parents.

The picaresque and touching story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky.

A centuries old curse haunts a family summer house. When a young womans husband inherits the house and is involved in a near-fatal accident, she realizes both he and her unborn son are at great risk, unless she can break the curse.