Improbable encounters bring tenderness, laughter and compassion to a world of urban alienation.

Against the backdrop of a dilapidated apartment building in the heart of the French urban jungle, stories of social anonymity, loneliness, and the painful effect of time's penetrating caress become intertwined with selfless acts of kindness, solidarity, and an odd encounter with the paradox. After experiencing firsthand life's cruel irony, the parsimonious tenant, Sternkowitz, concocts a spur-of-the-moment plan to make a good first impression on a lonely night-shift nurse, relying on his old Polaroid camera. In the meantime, the insecure movie star, Jeanne Meyer, stands powerless before the unstoppable force of youthful frankness, as her genuinely concerned next-door neighbour, Charly, becomes a beacon of self-confidence, and her improbable mentor. Then, out of the blue, the disoriented American astronaut, John McKenzie, winds up in kindly Madame Hamida's flat and realises that the mysteries of the cosmos can lead to a beautiful bond. Can there be tenderness in a bleak world?—Nick Riganas

A building in a housing project in Paris. One broken-down elevator. Three encounters between six characters. In the strange beauty of a cold urban landscape, a stingy old man in a wheelchair goes on a moonlight escapade to meet a lonely night nurse. A troubled actress in decline sparks the fascination of a latchkey teen. And an American astronaut jettisoned from space onto a high-rise rooftop is taken in by a doting mother who speaks no English.