Joey Wellman, a cantankerous American cartoonist, accepts an invitation to come to an exhibition in Paris because his estranged daughter Elsie is a student there. He arrives with his girlfriend Lena, but very soon he wants to go home, as the culture shock is too much for him. Elsie puts off meeting him because she is busy trying to find Professor Christian Gauthier and get him to read her thesis on Flaubert. However, Gauthier is enamored with American culture, and invites Joey and some other Americans to his mother's house for the weekend. Elsie arrives at the gathering in time for the masquerade party--and to see her father beginning to appreciate French culture.