Simone de Beauvoir tells in this autobiographical story the last months of her mother. 

After a fractured femoral neck, Françoise de Beauvoir begins to reject food. The diagnosis is without appeal: she suffers from a cancer of the small intestine. Her daughters Hélène and Simone take turns at her bedside to accompany her in her last moments.

In an open relationship with Pierre, Françoise meets Xavière, a young woman living in Rouen. She decides to welcome her in Paris, and this relationship leads her to reconsider her life choices.