Plot summary

16-year-old Geneviève lives with her widowed mother, who owns an umbrella shop in Cherbourg. She and Guy, a 20-year-old auto mechanic, are secretly in love and want to marry, but when she tells her mother, the woman objects: Geneviève is too young and Guy is not mature or well-established enough, particularly since he has not yet done his required military service. Shortly after this, Guy is drafted to serve in the war in Algeria. While Guy is away they drift apart, and Geneviève, strongly encouraged by her mother, accepts a marriage proposal from a well-to-do gem dealer named Roland Cassard, who has fallen in love with her.—M. Paul Shore