Amélie lives in Montmarte, a quarter of Paris that seems like a world unto itself. She’s a waitress at a local bistro, shops at the local greengrocer’s and greets her neighbours as if she lived in a small town. Nothing special happens in her life except for her mother’s odd death, something Amélie’s father still takes very hard. Amélie would probably stay reconciled to her lonely lot in life if not for the fact that one day she finds a hidden cache in her apartment containing an old box full of a former tenant’s childhood keepsakes. She decides to return the long-lost articles to their rightful owner, and somehow realises that she might also be able to help improve the world around her. Then one day she discovers someone collecting passport snaps discarded near a train station photo-booth, and Amélie falls in love. His name is Nino, but it takes a bit more time before she gets to know him, and a even longer for her to allow him into her private world.