A Summer’s Tale

Gaspard, a mathematics graduate and musician, arrives in Dinard for a summer holiday. He spends his days alone in his friend's empty flat, composing music and wandering the town. The seaside setting and the quiet give him space to search for meaning and inspiration.

At a Dinard restaurant, he encounters Margot, a cheerful waitress with a PhD in ethnology. Despite initial reluctance, they become friends and start meeting daily for walks around the town. Margot's easy warmth contrasts with his uncertainty about relationships.

Margot brings him to a local fisherman's house to discuss maritime folk songs. The session deepens his interest in traditional sea music. He writes his own sea shanty, diverging from his blues style.

Gaspard joins Margot's friends for a night of dancing at a local bar and feels out of place among the crowd. Solène notices him and later runs into him alone on the beach the next day. Her confidence and presence spark his curiosity.

Solène invites him to sail on her uncle's boat. She is a former choir singer and shows interest in his music. He shares the sea shanty he has written, boosting his confidence and sense of possibility.

The pair decide to take a trip to Ouessant the following week. The voyage promises escape and a chance to deepen their connection. Gaspard senses a new openness in himself.

By chance, Léna finds Gaspard at the beach and is genuinely excited to see him after a long delay. He is pleased by her renewed interest and begins to drift back toward the possibility of a vacation with Solène. The old dynamics reemerge, complicating his choices.

Gaspard and Margot discuss his tendency to double-book with different women. Margot asks whether he is cunning and manipulative or simply a weak fool. The conversation unsettles him and underscores the stakes of his indecision.

On a walk, Gaspard is drawn to kiss Margot, and the moment is reciprocated. He realizes the conflict between his strong connection with Margot and his attractions to Léna and Solène. The competing desires heighten the tension around the Ouessant trip.

Tired of Léna's mood swings and Solène's pressure, he tells Margot he wants to travel with her to Ouessant. He hopes for honesty and a more genuine relationship. Margot's response adds ambiguity to whether their plans will come together.

Léna calls, apologizing and re-inviting herself to Ouessant. Solène also phones, committing to the trip and then hanging up abruptly. Meanwhile, a friend informs him of a favorable recording equipment offer in La Rochelle, tempting him to leave town.

Gaspard asks Margot to meet him at the Saint-Malo ferry before he departs. Margot reveals that her boyfriend is returning imminently, and that they will go to Ouessant as planned. They share a tentative future, leaving their romance unresolved.

As Gaspard's boat pulls away, Margot waves from the shore and they kiss passionately on the ramp. The sea shanty Santiano plays, underscoring the bittersweet mood. The film ends with their relationship left open to what might come next.