Paris in the 1960s: Even as a young girl, Louki often ran away from her mother's apartment, where her mother worked as a ticket taker at the Moulin Rouge. She has never seen her father. She left her husband, a wealthy real estate agent, just a year after their marriage. With her lover, the aspiring writer Roland, she wanders through the vast city for days. At Café Le Condé, the "Café of Lost Youth," Louki believes she has found refuge, while her husband's detective is already on her trail. With "In the Café of Lost Youth," Patrick Modiano has written one of his most beautiful novels. Critics have hailed him as one of the greatest contemporary writers in France.