They were grandstand observers, living the free and easy life: Charley Martins, ex-pug turned remittance man, whose apartment was wired against intruders; Pascale, 18, ash-blonde, better looking than Bardot, a sex-kitten who worked in her father's café and played with Americans only; Gil Fletcher, tall, emotional, a painter in love with Simone; Ed Jones, an ex-loser who, with his Daniele, made a scrubby living as a street photographer. Each of them was happy, until an American writer arrived in Nice and destroyed their lovely illusions.