Young Coco Chanel (Audrey Tautou) works as a seamstress by day and a cabaret entertainer by night, then she meets a wealthy heir (Benoît Poelvoorde) and becomes his lover and fashion consultant. Tired of the flowery hats, tight corsets and yards of lace that define women's fashion, Coco uses her lover's clothing as a starting point to distill an elegant and sophisticated line of women's clothing that propels her to the top of Parisian haute couture.