One hot summer night, Aix-en-Provence is aflutter with news that controversial author Valere Barbier, who once shared dinners with French presidents and all-night drinking bouts with rock stars, has moved into La Bastide Blanche, a grand house left empty for decades. But Valere's ideas of a peaceful retirement are quickly dashed. Rambunctious neighbourhood children, a fast-talking gossip of a housekeeper, and a rival novelist filter through the home at all hours of the day - and by night there are unseen visitors with more sinister intentions.