Alex Martens, a Belgian journalist, strives to shed light on the causes of the deaths of two teenagers (Zyed and Bouna) in Clichy-sous-Bois. An autopsy of the tragedy in the form of an investigation, which denounces the state’s lies and sharply explores the crisis in the suburbs.

A 30 ans, Bruno, rock-star has been, vit toujours aux crochets de sa petite amie. Les temps sont durs... surtout quand une ex ressurgit de nulle part pour lui apprendre qu'il est le père de Nancy, 13 ans, dont il n'a jamais soupçonné l'existence.

A grizzled Parisian detective is sent to an outpost town in Southern France to dismantle a gang of killers which has freed a notorious criminal. The detective inherits a team of unmotivated and dishevelled detectives, and he makes connections nobody else ever saw because nobody else bothered to look. A mysterious, charismatic figure, he leads by example, and gradually his team begins to feel like cops again.

A few miles from Paris, on the other side of the northern ring road, stands a ghetto neighborhood with countless rows of dilapidated apartment buildings, their concrete crumbling and iron rusting. A multiracial community has long been rooted here, while most native French families have deserted the area. In tower 216 lives a "model" family of Algerian origin, the Bouamazzas. Our heroine, Aïcha, 25, the eldest daughter, is held up as an example by the whole community. But Aïcha can no longer bear the weight of the community: she wants to spread her wings, gain her independence, and finally cross the Rubicon.