Lilian, a forgotten Eurovision Song Contest singer falls in love with a young boxer and attempts her comeback.
Fifty-two year-old Lilian works at a meat factory putting laurel leaves onto liver pastries. Known as “Laura”, she once was a rising star in popular music. She even took part in the Eurovision Song Festival. Now forgotten she leads a secluded life in an apartment stuffed with relics from bygone days of glory.
But how will Jean and Lilian find a top-quality song? Will they be bussines-savvy enough to make a real come back? And will Lilian manage to tame her old demons, like Tony Jones, her former producer, who happens to be her ex-husband?
And then, one day, eighteen year-old Jean walks into her life. He suspects Lilian once was the famous singer known as Laura. At first she firmly denies, not wanting to be reminded of her past, but after a picture of hers pops up during a television quiz, she cannot but admit it. Jean asks her to sing at his boxing club’s annual champion’s ball. Lilian declines at first, but eventually gives a performance singing Souvenir, her greatest hit. The glitter dress, the heat of the spotlights and the applause liberate long suppressed emotions. She falls in love with Jean and does all she can to seduce him. Lilian and Jean grow closer and eventually they decide to live together despite the considerable age difference. Jean becomes Lilian’s ‘manager’.
He books performances at rest homes, barracks and bicycle race fancy fairs. Lilian, however, is disappointed. This is not the comeback she had imagined. Jean suggests she should enter pre-selections for Eurosong. She does it, for Jean’s sake.