Just as he is about to go on stage, Max receives a phone call from Philippe who announces his presence in the room. As soon as he hangs up, the actor collapses. Max will then have to draw on his game to face this man. But will he dare to confront him at the end of the show?

A dramatization of Émile Zola's greatest novel. Hired in the Montsou mines, Étienne Lantier meets the Maheu family and falls in love with their daughter Catherine. She is courted by Chaval, a brutal worker. When the Compagnie des Mines lowered wages, Étienne, already outraged by this misery, rose up. Dreaming of justice, he pushes for a strike. Weeks go by, the starving strikers struggle, but, victims of violent repression, resign themselves to returning to work