Francois Galarneau is a dreamer, a modest, philosophical soul who loves to read - which he gets to do quite a lot in his job as a security guard in a Montreal mall. His brother Jacques is an intellectual, a writer of screenplays and radio dramas who lives - where else? - in Paris where he is writing a novel. His other brother, Arthur, is a revolutionary, a charismatic con-artist going by the name of Nadja Astac, who vanished without trace ten years ago.

In Paris on a quixotic mission to help his Cambodian-refugee friend Paulo - via an arranged marriage with Catherine, Paulo's sister - Francois is stunned to see Arthur in a photo in the morning paper: Nadja Astac is in Brussels, in the hands of the police.

Alarmed, Francois and Jacques attempt to track the elusive Arthur, but the trail runs cold; back in Montreal, Francois ends up camping out at the mall while the unexpected extras in his marriage package - five children and a criminally inclined fiance - overrun his small flat.

Going to Philadelphia to guard a collection of antique erotic art for his boss's elegant wife - whom he dreams of seducing - sounds like a good break from it all. But that night, as he guards the paintings, out of the blue comes a phone call from Arthur. He is in New York City, and he wants his brothers to join him in his most audacious scheme ever ...