Jeanne, a young philosophy teacher, cannot go home to her flat in Paris because her cousin Gaëlle is having a rendezvous with her boyfriend Gildas, who is in the military.

At the end of a quick kiss, Jeanne decides that the entire family relationship was going too far and departs back to Paris to pack up her things.

Like most Rohmer films, A Tale of Springtime explores human intellectual relationships with long dialogues and precisely placed settings.

The thematic use of spring and its renewal cycle is visually presented from the orderly, colder Paris home to the warm, bucolic country residence.

Jeanne, through acute observation of the family dynamic and listening to Igor's comments about Ève, clearly realizes that she would just be another part of the new-to-old cycle goes back to renew her relationship with her own boyfriend with fresh new flowers.