Each year, the Beaugrand sisters meet for their sister Yvette's birthday party-and to have a little "impromptu"-at which they lash out at each other's personal failures and at the failure of society to support them in their opinions about the world. The four sisters represent the French-Canadian intelligentsia of the fifties, whose interest in art, music, dance and literature is an adopted pose, not their life's blood. Only one of the Beaugrand siters, Lorraine, has escaped her fate, running off with the Italian gardener to start a family in St. Leonard. The others remain in Outremont, trapped by time; by the choices they have not dared to make; by the position that society has foisted upon them-a position they have accepted, not fought for.