French Exit is based on the novel by the same name by Patrick DeWitt. Frances found Franklin on a bed pinned with a stroke but instead of helping, she left him for a while, letting him die. The bank seizes all the property of Manhattan heiress Frances Price several years after her husband’s death.
The close-to-penniless widow and her son, Malcolm, are left with few options. They sell everything in their house and relocate to a small apartment in Paris owned by Frances’ friend, with the family cat, who happens to be Frances’ reincarnated husband.