The nearly 17-year-old Prudence Friedman (Léa Seydoux) is struggling to cope with her mother's death and her father, similarly upset, has now been in Canada much longer than the 48 hours it should've taken to settle his client's inheritance. Over the phone, Prudence keeps up the pretence that she and her sister are living together in the family apartment but, in reality, Frédérique has moved out, unable to handle the painful memories of their mother's death there.