The story begins in pre-World War I France with a silent, black-and-white sequence where a man operating a Lumiere movie camera in a park charms a woman into turning the crank.

The film introduces Rachel Stern, the daughter of the general's murdered wife, and David Goldman, the son of the Lumiere camera operator.

On her 16th birthday, Sarah loses her virginity to a French pop star, the real life Gilbert Bécaud; he rejects her infatuation and she attempts suicide.

Now writing about her upbringing, she marries an Italian but divorces after a week, following which her father dies of a heart attack, leaving Sarah enormously wealthy.

Finally, Sarah leaves her dull relationship to raise money for Israel in the United States, a promise she made to her father.

The original French version had a more dramatic ending, with the plane carrying Sarah and Simon crashing after their meeting, signifying the completion of their shared destiny.

This was instrumental in demonstrating that Bécaud, who was not a familiar figure to English-speaking audiences, was a crucial element to the story, in that both protagonists are obsessed with him and his music, and that his presence was constantly hovering over their lives.