Four Anglo-Canadians and a New Yorker find themselves in a two-week long total French immersion program in the fictional, remote town of St-Isidore-du-Coeur-de-Jésus, tucked away somewhere in Northern Quebec. The place is perfect for total immersion since, according to the most recent census, 99% of the population is comprised of pure laine Quebeckers for the most part unilingual French, fervently nationalist, and all, save one person, named Tremblay.

The unexpected return of his ex-wife and the assembly of a group of protesters both threaten to wreck a corrupt contractor's inauguration party for his new superhighway.

This French-Canadian crime/action drama, which satirizes U.S. crime films, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972 and was well received. In the picture, perfectly ordinary people murder, steal, and torture one another with casual abandon in order to solve their everyday problems.