Henri Boulanger Jean-Pierre Léaud is a middle-aged French man living a drab, solitary life in London. After fifteen years with the city’s waterworks, he learns that the government’s privatization drive has left foreigners to be fired first, and he is laid off effective immediately. With no job, no real friends, and a growing sense of isolation, Henri’s world narrows to a quiet, stubborn endurance.
Desperation nudges him toward a reckless plan: he attempts to end his life, first by hanging and then by poisoning via gas, but both attempts fail. When a newspaper story about contract killers catches his eye, Henri pawns a watch and makes his way to the Honolulu Bar to meet these supposed professionals. The killers agree to take the job within two weeks and warn that he can change his mind if he wants to back out; Henri insists he won’t.
While waiting for the killers, Henri posts a note on his door saying he’s gone to the pub opposite and ends up meeting Margaret Margi Clarke, a woman selling flowers. Their conversation sparks an instant connection, and they plan to meet again. Henri returns home to find the assassin has been there; he escapes and resolves to visit Margaret.
At Margaret’s, Henri confesses that he has fallen for her, a realization that makes him reconsider dying. Margaret suggests that he cancel the job by going to the Honolulu Bar, and she offers to go to Henri’s flat to retrieve his belongings, thinking she’s safe because the killer doesn’t know her. Yet the Honolulu Bar is demolished, and Margaret never enters Henri’s flat. The killer tracks her journey back to her own building, but he does not follow her into the lift, instead returning to his own life, where a violent coughing fit hints at illness.
Back at Margaret’s, Henri runs out of cigarettes and heads to the corner shop, while the killer forces his way into Margaret’s flat. Margaret tries to deny any connection to Henri, but the killer threatens her and compels her to wait for Henri’s return. When footsteps approach, he plans to act, but Margaret knocks him unconscious. The couple flee and rent a room at a hotel, where Margaret half-heartedly suggests he go to the police. They share a fraught moment of intimacy, and the pair seems to be building a fragile new bond.
Meanwhile, the killer, newly informed by a doctor that he has a form of cancer with only a month or two left, decides that time is still enough to complete his mission. Back at the hotel, Henri wakes to find Margaret gone and later follows the two associates of the killer to a jeweller’s. The thieves rob the place, and a struggle for the gun ends with the jeweller’s death. The criminals fling the gun into Henri’s hands and flee; he discards it afterward.
Margaret, meanwhile, goes to a pub to sell flowers and unexpectedly encounters the killer again. She pleads for him to call off the job, but he insists that everyone must die eventually. A letter from Henri arrives to Margaret, bringing her to tears, and she heads to a French hamburger shack where she learns that Henri has found work there. The couple plans to leave the country and arrange tickets, meeting at the station.
Police eventually capture the jewel thieves, clearing Henri of suspicion, and he prepares to depart with Margaret. But at the burger place, the killer bursts back into their lives, determined to finish the job. Henri escapes through the back, while the killer overpowers Henri’s new employer and confronts him. The killer acknowledges his impending death, then turns the gun on himself and shoots. Henri leaves as a taxi nearly sideswipes him—an untimely near-miss; the taxi is carrying Margaret.
Some time later, Henri’s employer—who had given him work at the hamburger shack—is shown again, standing by a restaurant window, smoking and cleaning his glasses, a quiet aftermath to a life touched by danger, longing, and unresolved love.
