Having spent a gloomy semester in Paris as a student long ago, Franny Laforet is one Californian who doesn't harbor any romantic notions about France. All the same, she finds herself drafted as scout for a group of friends planning a reunion at a Provenal ch teau. Her plane unfortunately lands at De Gaulle at the time of the attack on the World Trade Center. With the rest of the group stuck back home due to the cancellation of transatlantic flights, Franny seems fated to a lonely vacation spent exploring the countryside around the ch teau and speculating about the natives. The natives meanwhile have their own preoccupations. The ch telain himself, Hughes Degency, an ex-banker struggling to establish an organic winery, has been reduced to camping out in the woods while he rents his posh residence to Americans he detests. Franny and Hughes soon discover that national antagonism is no obstacle to sexual attraction. Serendipity eventually fills the chateau with a mixture of French and American guests whose intentions are not uniformly honorable. Amidst the ensuing bustle, cross-cultural debates and nefarious schemes, the would-be lovers will have a very short time to work out their feelings.