Paris

Adèle and Richard live in Paris, and most of the action of the novel takes place in the city. Adèle loves Paris because she can move around anonymously and has lots of freedom. She can sleep with different men every night and never worry about running into them again. Richard wants to leave because he thinks it is no place to raise a child. Adèle wants to stay because she cannot imagine herself without the city.

Caen

Caen is the small country town where Richard is from. He quits his job and starts working at a small hospital nearby. He buys a house near his parents' house and moves in with Adèle and Lucien. The man who owned the house before had a wife who died in a sickbed in one of the rooms. Adèle is terrified of the house because she does...