Kevin Kline stars as Mathias "Jim" Gold, a New Yorker who's down on his luck and, on inheriting a fantastic apartment in Paris, liquidates his few remaining assets to buy a one-way ticket - only to find out that the apartment is a "viager," a bizarre French arrangement in which the owner pays the apartment resident a set monthly fee until the death of the resident ... and the old lady in question (Maggie Smith as Mathilde Girard) is looking unpleasantly healthy, despite her advanced years.

Mathilde allows Mathias to stay in the apartment, and over time he meets Mathilde's daughter Chloé (Kristin Scott Thomas) and discovers why his father bought into such a strange arrangement. And many things are revealed.

The structure is quite traditional with its revelations of family history and problems, but the acting is very good so the end product is decent, if not brilliant.