Joachim 是一个生活在巴黎、事业成功的电视编剧。四十岁生日的临晨，他决定放弃一切——孩子、友人、敌人、爱情与遗憾——去美国从零开始。之后，他带领“新滑稽艳舞团”（New Burlesque ）回到故乡进行巡演。艳舞团团员因Joachim 而对法国巴黎充满向往。幽默的表演和脱衣舞娘丰满的身材令男女老少沉迷不已。尽管下榻的旅馆平庸不堪，使用的电梯音乐（musique d’ascenseur ）乏善可陈，又缺乏资金，女演员依然营造出了新奇、热情而欢乐的气氛。但是，他们决定在巴黎演出压轴戏，将巡演推向高潮的梦想破裂了：Joachim 的老“朋友”背叛了他，取消了其预定的演戏场所。巴黎之行似乎注定来去匆匆，过去种种伤感的回忆突然被揭开…… Joachim, a former Parisian television producer had left everything behind - his children, friends, enemies, lovers and regrets to start a new life in America. But he returns with a team of New Burlesque strip-tease performers whom he has filled with romantic dreams of a tour of France, of Paris! Traveling from town to town, despite the cheap hotel rooms and lack of money, the curvaceous showgirls invent an extravagant fantasy world of warmth and hedonism that wins an enthusiastic response from men and women alike. But their dream of a tour culminating in a last grand show in Paris goes up in smoke when Joachim is betrayed by an old friend and loses the theatre where they were due to perform. An obligatory return journey to the capital violently reopens the old wounds of his past...
八公（Forest 饰）是一条谜一样的犬，因为没有人知道它从哪里来。教授帕克（理查·基尔 Richard Gere 饰）在小镇的火车站拣到一只走失的小狗，冥冥中似乎注定小狗和帕克教授有着某种缘分，帕克一抱起这只小狗就再也放不下来，最终，帕克对小狗八公的疼爱感化了起初极力反对养狗的妻子卡特（琼·艾伦 Joan Allen 饰）。八公在帕克的呵护下慢慢长大，帕克上班时八公会一直把他送到车站，下班时八公也会早早便爬在车站等候，八公的忠诚让小镇的人家对它更加疼爱。有一天，八公在帕克要上班时表现异常，居然玩起了以往
