Marie Bertin is in at a dead end, both personally and professionally. When Pierre Gendreau, a former Canadian minister, asked for her help in writing his briefs, she saw the solution to a situation that had become unbearable. She hoped for a lot in this new life in Quebec, with her son, Tom, whom she had "all alone" a few months earlier. But, once in her new position, the situation is far from idyllic. The atmosphere of the house is heavy. The relations between Pierre, his wife, Nathalie, and their son François are tense.
After raising her daughter, one would think that Julie's life was rather full. However, she recently got an offer from the French consul to a mission in Pondicherry, India to teach her skills to Indians. She can only do this if she gets her high-school diploma, something she neglected to do earlier. The idea of this new post motivates her to rectify her youthful omission, and she goes back to school in Montparnasse. Just before classes are to start, her current boyfriend's condescending ways prove too much for her, and she breaks up with him, reacting to that by getting drunk. Thus, when she has to take the subway to school on the first day, being unfamiliar with the route and somewhat the worse for wear, she gets lost. Fortunately, she meets an elderly man, a retired musician for the Paris Opera, who is headed for the very same destination. The two form a relationship of mutual encouragement and support.
During the war in 1941, Antoine, 9, lived with his grandparents in Gironde. His mother prefers to keep him away in the free zone, with his cousins, where he discovers a more rigorous world.
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