A memorial service is being held for a kid named Jacob. There, Louis, Jacob's father, sees André Borkman, his brother-in-law. They have been estranged for over ten years, and this new encounter escalates into a physical confrontation. After being kicked out, André finds his wife Alice crying. Louis demands them to leave, threatening to call the police. Five years later, while driving to their daughter Alice's opening night of a play, Abel and his wife Marie-Louise stumble upon an
ice road. There, a driver loses control of her car and hits a tree. While they try to help her, a truck nearby also loses control. In the ensuing accident, the girl dies while Alice's parents get severely injured. Before the play starts, Alice reads Louis' latest novel, in which he portrays her in a humiliating way. It is the second time this happened; on the first, she tried to stop the novel's publication, which aggravated her delicate relationship with Louis and led them to become estranged. Alice then performs the play. She later learns of the accident, goes to the hospital and meets her kid brother Fidèle. At countryside
France, Louis is living with his wife Faunia. After learning that his parents will die soon, Louis decides to come back to
Lille — despite not seeing any of his relatives for the past five years. After visiting the hospital, he decides to stay at his parents' apartment. He writes Alice a letter and asks Fidèle to deliver it. On a rainy day, Alice encounters a fan, Lucia. Lucia is a
Romanian immigrant, who lives on a shelter and has no job. Alice invites her for a drink and reveals why she hates Louis: years before, she was an established actress, and he was a struggling writer who often asked her for money. A novel he wrote eventually gained mainstream recognition. When the novel received an important prize, Alice started to realize that she hated her now financially independent and famous brother. Her husband, André, was a long-time friend of Louis. Louis takes care of his dad at the hospital. There, he eventually sees Alice, who faints. In a flashback, Alice and André get married, despite Louis' objections. He says that he finds André not right for her. Alice informs Louis that she is pregnant. At the hospital, Marie-Louise dies. A distraught Fidèle cannot make it to the morgue where he is expected to bring her burial clothes, so Louis goes in his place. There, he overhears André and Alice discuss the funeral, which she does not want Louis to attend. Alice meets Lucia again, she plans to bury Marie-Louise and stop acting in the play. Lucia, who has not eaten anything for two days, nearly faints. Looking for food, Alice heads to the market and bumps into Louis. At the hospital, Abel removes his oxygen mask and vitals monitors. He then walks into the corridor and dies. Faunia travels to Lille for the funerals. Days after the funerals, Alice and Louis meet again. Louis and Fidèle begin emptying their childhood apartment. Distraught, Louis climbs up to the rooftop and stands at the edge of the building. Everyone begs him to walk back. Alice then joins them. Louis asks for Fidèle and his boyfriend Simon to leave and reveals to Alice that he regrets all the years he loved her, not knowing that she had always hated him. Alice leaves him alone. Louis eventually comes down and gets a fever. Alice helps him change, covers him with a blanket, and they lie in bed together. Some time later, Louis is teaching again. Alice has relocated to
Abomey, in
Benin and sends him a letter. In it, She says that she has left everything behind: The theater, André, her son; and she feels alive. ==Cast==