In the "film narrative" of Paul and Paula, everything unfolds just so: it takes a long time to find true love. Paul, a personal advisor at a foreign trade authority, has married a beautiful but not very bright girl. Paula, who has two children from two different men, works at a supermarket and is determined to give in to the advances of an older gentleman and tire dealer - then Paul and Paula meet again, and that's when it happens, in the garage, where complications pile up until all the complexities of great love make way for one final complication: Paula's death.