The launch of the largest, most spectacular beauty parlour in Paris is destined to turn young Leonie into a household figure: the face that is Caresse. But beneath the glamour and spectacle, a very different story lies….

          For seventeen years Leonie’s father, Captaine Paul de Byron, has been kept ignorant of the existence of his daughter. Now united, he lavishes on her the fatherly love she has never known. The arrival of Tony, a handsome young New Yorker, seems to confirm the change in her fortunes.

          But happiness seems to be short-lived, for with the outbreak of World War II her whole world crumbles….