Jack McCormack, a dying World War II veteran, reminisces about a love affair he had with a young Parisian woman in 1945. He re-reads her letters and regrets never having married her. His granddaughter, Marly, shares his fascination with France, and, during a study-abroad stay in Paris, meets and falls in love with a young student at the Sorbonne. After her grandfather's death, her mother sends her the letters he had been reading. These love letters reveal a side of her grandfather she never suspected.