1963年是即將13歲的漢娜（由卡琳瓦納斯飾）的人生轉捩點。她坐在蒙特婁一家暗暗的電影院中， 第一次見到了娜娜，也就是在高達的「喚醒她的人生」一片中由安娜卡麗娜飾演的女主角。 這時候的漢娜正處於矛盾的年紀，他努力地想讓自己成為成熟的女人，卻又與父母不合，家人彼此之間充滿愛恨糾葛的情節。她的猶太裔父親（米奇馬諾喬維飾），是一個靈魂受折磨的流浪詩人，一個不懂得表達愛的人。而她的母親年紀很輕，是魁北克人。信奉天主教，經常過度疲勞。幸好漢娜還有一個她很談得來的哥哥和唯一的朋友蘿拉。在試驗性的一年即將結束之際，和娜終於明白了美麗而令人銷魂的娜娜所要傳達的訊息。她想她有責任讓自己的人生過得更美好！

母亲去世后，玛丽（米莎•巴顿 Mischa Barton 饰）就被父亲送到了寄宿学校。在那里，她认识了两个室友，杜丽（杰茜卡•帕尔 Jessica Paré 饰）和宝丽（派珀•佩拉博 Piper Perabo 饰）。杜丽和宝丽天真活泼，性格开朗，很快，内向忧郁的玛丽就被她们所感染，三人成了好朋友。不久，玛丽就发现杜丽和宝丽两人原来是一对恋人，玛丽觉得这一切都很正常，也就和她们快乐的生活下去。然而一次杜丽的妹妹来找她时发现了姐姐的秘密，于是，流言开始流传。杜丽不堪忍受，疏远了宝丽，结交了新的男友。而宝丽却是不屈不挠，继续着自己对杜丽的爱。

Anne Trister follows director Léa Pool's route in life from youth in French speaking Switzerland to adulthood in Quebec in Canada. The film deals with issues of child abuse and bi-sexuality as well as the quest to find roots.
Art student Anne Trister has, like Lea Pool, a Jewish father and a gentile mother. Her father's death is what moves her to leave school and her lover in Switzerland behind and travel to Montreal in Canada for the last rites.
She stays with an older friend Alix, a child psychiatrist absorbed by the case of an abused little girl. Alix tries to help Anne to relate to her Jewish roots by telling her about a trip to the desert she once made. Anne is fascinated by the story and by Alix and falls in love with her.
In the meantime she expresses her feelings in art by creating a fantastic mural of the desert on the walls of a studio lent to her by one of her father's old friends.
However, Alix chooses for a man in her life and disturbed by her rejection Anne falls from scaffolding in her studio. When she comes to in hospital her studio and with it her dream world has been torn down. Now she must face reality and be free.
In the closing shots Alix receives a parcel containing a handful of sand and a short film of Anne in the desert.
The soundtrack prominently features a chanson by Danielle Messiah (De la main gauche) that lends the film much of its mood.

Valérie Kaprisky and Jean-François Pichette star in this predictable story of two people, a single mom (Kaprisky) and a man (Pichette), who meet on a train going from Montreal to Vancouver, a very long ride across Canada that gives them plenty of time to become romantically involved. Viewers may find that the evolution of the romance is as obvious as the train chugging along one track to its inevitable destination.
Moody, sensual, quietly compelling and, ultimately, engaging romantic drama with good performances and dialogue. Pool's best film, and certainly her most accessible...though still given to pretentious dream sequences and visuals. But at least they aren't a substitute for story or character this time around.