In the Paris suburbs, the ashes of the night's riots fall on the lives of young people. Games, rap, intimacy, boredom and tension resonate in the concrete. In the streets, demonstrations see groups clashing and dividing. Meanwhile, in the 6th arrondissement, the students of Fenelon high school meet between classes, kiss each other, share their fears and imagine their future. Sociologist Alain Touraine, who is old enough to be their grandfather, tries to make sense of a fractured society. He was welcomed with open arms in Latin America where his ideas still found an audience. Chronicle of a year in Paris.

Apostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and hosted by Bernard Pivot. It ran for fifteen years (724 episodes) from January 10, 1975, to June 22, 1990, and was one of the most watched shows on French television (around 6 million regular viewers). It was broadcast on Friday nights on the channel France 2 (which was called "Antenne 2" from 1975 to 1992). The hourlong show was devoted to books, authors and literature. The format varied between one-on-one interviews with a single author and open discussions between four or five authors.