When retired courtesan Charlotte (Kathy Bates) asks her former colleague, Lea (Michelle Pfeiffer) to instruct her son, Chéri (Rupert Friend), in the ways of love, the result is a passionate affair that lasts six years. But Charlotte arranges for Chéri to marry a younger woman, and insists the affair come to an end. Lea retreats to southern France, but destiny brings the two lovers together once more.