A working woman, mother a three children, realizes that, when her youngest one is about to go to Canada to continue her education, she will end up out of her most precious goal, being a mother.

Based upon the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, a chess grandmaster travels to Italy in the 1920s to play in a tournament and falls in love.

In 19th century Paris, Bette Fischer, a poor and homely spinster, forms an alliance with the seductive courtesan Valerie Marneffe to orchestrate revenge on her handsome and wealthy relatives.