The narrator of Sans Moi is a working single mother struggling to bring up her two young children. Olivia is a recovering drug addict and onetime prostitute who desperately needs a job. When Olivia—on the face of it a highly unsuitable babysitter—moves in, trailing her chaotic past behind her, their lives collide with unexpected results. In the year they live together, companionship, intimacy, and humor create a friendship full of vitality and mutual respect—as well as something of a family life. Marie Desplechin details this emotional terrain with delicate grace and irony. At once desperate and hopeful, Sans Moi explores the nature of friendship and the complicated dynamics of learning how to love and be loved.