Diane Kury's first film, winner of France's prestigious award the Prix Louis Delluc, is a memoir about growing up in Paris during the early 1960s. It is a valentine to the bittersweet joys of adolescence.

Anne (Eleonore Klarwein), a 13-year-old, and her 15-year-old sister Frederique (Odile Mitchel) live with their divorced mother (Anouk Ferjac). The two girls are at a point in their lives when not knowing is both a spur and a brake to their activities.

Frederique falls in and out of love with a boy her age and receives some affection from an older married man. Anne has her first period, insists upon wearing stockings as a sign of maturity, and follows her sister to the café when she hopes to sip peppermint soda. Frederique learns about life's limitations through a classmate who runs away from home and a friend who is ostracized for her political views. Anne deals with her frustrations by cheating at school and pulling a dirty trick on her sister; both are attempts to find herself through defiance.

This totally enchanting film touches upon nearly all aspects of the Weber sister's life at home, in school , on the streets, with friends, and in strange settings. Although the mood and style of Peppermint Soda is peculiarly French, there is a universal quality to the experience of these two adolescents as they try to define themselves as unique individuals.