Paula is 11. She is bored at school and has only one friend : Achille. Her father gives her a surprise : they will spend next summer in the house of her dreams by a lake. But time flies, autumn is coming, and they still don't come back.

Elisabeth, an actress, leads writing workshops at Necker Hospital with teenagers experiencing severe psychological distress. Through her interactions with them, she revisits her own story: her institutionalization at age 14. Little by little, the memories resurface. And with them, the discovery of theater, which one day saved her.