Matthias (Kevin Kline) is a penniless New Yorker, after 3 divorces. When his estranged father’s dies, Matthias inherits an apartment in Paris, and plans to sell it quickly and start a new life back in the US. Arriving in Paris he discovers a refined old lady Mathilde (Maggie Smith) living in the apartment with her daughter Chloe (Scott Thomas). He learns that the apartment is a “viager” –  an old French system for buying and selling apartments,  –     and that he will not get possession until Mathilde dies . . . .