"American novelist Tom Ricks ... arrives in Paris determined to renew a relationship with his estranged wife and daughter. When a longed-for meeting goes poorly, he ends up in a seedy hostel on the outskirts of the city. Unable to pay for his room and board, he agrees to work as a night guard at a warehouse or the proprietor ... and spends the hours writing elaborate, imaginative letters to his daughter. One evening, after he's invited to a literary...