THE WOMAN IN THE FIFTH follows American novelist Tom Ricks as he arrives in Paris determined to renew a relationship with his estranged wife and daughter. When the longed-for meeting goes poorly, he ends up in a seedy hostel on the outskirts of the city. Unable to pay for his room and board, he agrees to work as a night guard at a warehouse for the proprietor and spends the hours writing elaborate, imaginative letters to his daughter.