Ben (Eric Runeckles), a frustrated writer and literature professor in Montreal, becomes obsessed with Anton Chekhov's classic short story The Lady with the Dog. In his personal life, Ben's marriage to his wife is growing cold and distant. Drawing parallels between his life and the fiction he teaches, he begins a passionate, secret affair with Mercedes (Sophie Desmarais), a young Francophone student in his class. As their illicit connection deepens, the boundary between literary fantasy and the real-world destructive consequences of their emotional and sexual obsession begins to dissolve.