Charlotte—a gifted but broken jazz singer—has found security and support under the roof of an overbearing French patroness of the arts, only to become trapped by her own dependence. There are no bars on the windows and no locks on the doors, but Charlotte is very much a prisoner in an opulent but unsympathetic world in which her self-worth is contingent on her voice. When the irresponsible and headstrong Theo re-enters her life after thirteen years, she is compelled, finally, to choose between complacency and autonomy.