The storm raged as a man, deeply intoxicated, lurched toward his home. A wave of nausea and dizziness washed over him, and within the confines of his mind, he saw two monstrous rats. Disgusted and irritable, he launched a desperate assault …

Consumed by envy, the husband gave his wife a potion said to sharpen the mind. Hoping to eliminate the possibility of another man vying for her heart, he unknowingly swept away all traces of her past with him.

For reasons unknown, two couples in their middle years, each with lives and temperaments uniquely their own, converged in France. It was there they began an unexpected and deeply significant journey through a foreign country.