Several years after leaving the orphanage, to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle Chanel finds herself working in a provincial bar. She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister. A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entree into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing.

A banker strikes up a sadomasochistic relationship with a mistress.

Depressed by his loneliness, Paul-André, a shy and wealthy man, offers to rent the family of a good-natured woman with two kids in exchange of settling his debts.