Clara has had a difficult relationship with motherhood since finding out she was pregnant with her daughter Amanda when she was 20, challenging the body she deems unfit for the role of mother by giving it without pleasure and working long hours in sordid night clubs. She decides to leave her daughter and partner but ten years later she is forced to take a newfound responsibility when Amanda falls ill.
Set in 1900, Lili d’Alengy, a Parisian cocotte at the height of her fame, flees Paris to hide her “idiot” daughter. There she meets Maria Montessori, who is pioneering a teaching method that may help the child.