The photograph has fixed the three figures for ever, two men and a woman bathed in bright sunshine.Parisian archivist Hélène knows very little about her mother, Nathalie, who died when she was three. She decides to place a newspaper advert requesting information on Nathalie and two unknown men pictured with her at a tennis tournament in 1971.Against the odds, she receives a response from Stéphane, a Swiss biologist: his father is one of the people in the photo. Further letters and photos pass between them; but as they try to piece together the past, will they discover more than they can actually deal with?Winner of over thirty literary awards, this dark yet moving drama deftly explores the themes of blame and forgiveness, identity and love.