Catherine, hugely popular (and wealthy) from her long running television soap opera, longs for the glory of the big screen. She prepares to star in a Feyadeau farce about to open on the 17th, but despite all her success she wonders if her work has any value or meaning. Jean-Francois, piano prodigy with an international reputation, is preparing for a major Beethoven recital on the 17th, yet he basically just wants to be alone. Jacques, a business manturned art connoisuer, has amassed an extraordinary, highly personal art collection, but on the 17th it will be sold off. Catherine, Jean-Francois and Jacques have devoted their lives to art, yet what kind of lives have art given them? They sometimes cross paths and nurse their neuroses at a cafe where they are waited on by Jessicca, recently arrived in Paris is on her own quest for fame.
