Bill Baker, an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma, travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, Allison, who is in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.

On a hot summer afternoon, a group of youngsters from Marseille’s working-class estates are hanging out at their spot by the sea. They saunter, catcall, swim and jump off the high rocks. A blonde girl observes them from the beach and decides to break cultural conventions.