Life seems to be looking up for shy and withdrawn Stephane (Gael Garcia Bernal) when he is coaxed to return to his childhood home in France by his mother with the promise of a job. Wildly creative, his fanciful and sometimes disturbing dream life constantly threatens to usurp his waking world. But his joy is muted when he discovers that the job is actually a mundane copy setting position in a tiny office with three co-workers, including one (Alain Chabat) hungry for someone to entertain him and a boss who would prefer to be perpetually left alone. However, that disappointment is overshadowed when Stephane meets his new next door neighbor, Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her friend, Zoe. Initially mistaken for an injured furniture mover upon first meeting the two young women, and too shy to correct them, Stephane then must pretend that he doesn't actually live next door in order to continue the growing friendship with Stephanie.