Lita del Cielo has been granted one year to pursue her studies in Paris before returning to America to work in the family business. She moves into a gently crumbling Left Bank mansion known as the House of Stars, where the spirited but bedridden Countess Seraphine rents out rooms to young women visiting Paris to study, work, and, unofficially, to find love. Cautious and guarded, Lita keeps a cool distance from the other girls, who have come to the City of Light from all over the world, and who intimidate and fascinate her. Then one day Lita meets Cato, and the contours of her world shift.