Plot
The young French writer Catherine Breillat, who published her first novel at the age of 20, suggested to Hamilton one of the favorite motives of her work, the intimate world of a boarding school teacher for girls. Bilitis is in love with the photographer Luke, but she is not attracted to physical intimacy with a man, on the contrary, she wants tender and sublime feelings. The beautiful Melissa, a friend of Bilitis's parents, also suffers from her husband's rudeness and inattention, who invited the girl to her place for the summer holidays.

Brief moments of the love affair between Bilitis and Melissa should testify to the kinship of souls. But a more adult, knowing life Melissa refuses to continue this novel. Then Bilitis decides to find a lover who is sensitive and pleasant in all respects for her, not suspecting that as a result she herself will face the first drama in her life, still childish, naive, but no less bitter....

Plot
June 1939. A young man named Julien comes to the family estate of his parents for the summer holidays. Julien is from a noble family, but his family has become impoverished and is now forced to maintain a small boarding house in the family castle.

As a result, a motley company gathers on the estate for the summer: a mad German professor named Gnus with his daughter, the “blond beast” Lieselotte; the out-of-print but still beautiful actress Clementine, who once played in films about Zorro; Julien's older sister, "bluestocking" Claire and her fiancé Charles; and also Julien's two lovely cousins, the little Puna and the already matured Julie.

There are several romances between the characters...

The film was based on the novel Tendres cousines by Pascal Lehne, published by Gallimard in 1979. In 1982, the book was published as a photo album containing 112 pages with 100 color and 38 grayscale images from the film.