Seventeenth century. Set in a small village, nestled between the sea and the mountain, the father of Alan, a young fifteen-year-old boy, has sold himself for two years to indentured service. Alan is forced to take the place of his father and struggles to support his family.

Transport Minister Bertrand Saint-Jean is awoken in the middle of the night by his head of staff. A bus has gone off the road into a gully. He has no choice but to go to the scene of the accident. Thus begins the odyssey of a politician in a world that is increasingly more complex and hostile.