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.