When steely French matriarch Junon (Catherine Deneuve) learns she has leukemia, she asks her children and grandchildren at the family Christmas gathering to see if they are eligible to become bone marrow donors. This causes deep friction in the family, especially between Junon's daughter Elizabeth (Hippolyte Girardot) and son Henri (Anne Consigny), who already have a tumultuous relationship. Their mother's sickness also recalls the traumatic loss of their brother Joseph when they were children.