Cold Water is a period drama about two teenage protagonists who find solace in each other while struggling with their troubled lives and trying to escape the constraints of their social classes. Set in 1972 Paris, the film explores themes of teenage angst, alienation, and juvenile delinquency.

What is beautiful about adolescence is that it is a time when everything is still possible. The four main characters are each conditioned by their background and environment, but they refuse to accept any predestination and to fight it. Expelled from schools, spurned by lovers, confined by identity these youngsters just keep on running, frustrated and in flames. Lonely hearts, intoxicated by music and alcohol, by the heat of minds and bodies, burn to ashes.