Charlotte Castang, a 13-year-old working-class girl who lives in a depressing, run-down neighborhood, is prepared to enter adulthood. She was born to a deceased mother, and now she resides with her crude brother and a distracted father. Lulu, a sick 10-year-old whom she considers a nuisance, is her only companion. Charlotte is lonely, antisocial, and longs for a better existence. When she meets pianist prodigy Clara Bauman, her life is transformed.