This film, set in Paris, focuses on a group of random characters who intermingle in various ways when they come into contact with a piece of 18th-century china and a 19th-century painting. These objects are possessed, if but for a brief time, by thieves, a terrorist, a police chief, a teacher, punk musicians, prostitutes, aristocrats and many others, with each character forced to reflect on existential dilemmas before the object passes to another.