Alain Doutey

Perpetually happy Odette thinks she owes her sense of optimism to her favorite writer, a closet curmudgeon, and sets out to personally thank him.

Marilou and Philippe are finally retired! They cannot wait to move to Portugal. They just have to sell their house and tell their family about the move. The couple's daughter keeps asking them to babysit...What should be a mere formality turns into quite a challenge. They should have known you cannot escape your family so easily...

July 1976, the year of the heat wave. Claude, an Algerian Jew who came to France 15 years earlier, takes his young wife Isabelle, his two sons Simon (12) and Bibou (8) and his mother-in-law Mamie to Brittany. It was Isabelle who, after having caught Claude in the throes of adultery, chose for this vacation to return to Le Rocher Abraham, the village where she was born. The day after their arrival they are joined by two other couples. The holidaymakers are viewed with distrust by the locals. Algerian Jews from Paris and provincial Catholics don't mix comfortably. But gradually, the suspicion wanes, giving way to friendship, laughter and holiday romance. Over this long hot summer, Claude and Isabelle get their marriage back on track, while Bibou and Simon, spend a memorable summer discovering the world of grown-ups.