In Paris, in 1942, on a Thursday, the Parisian police herded together some 13,000 Jews for deportation to German territory. In this story, Paul (Christian Rist) is a teenager who tries to prevent this from happening. At first he attempts to save two elderly Jews, but they are resigned to their fate and comply with the order to assemble. For a short while, he is able to keep Jeanne (Christine Pascal) from joining them, but, after a long and strenuous day, she finally escapes from him he is too tired to chase after her.

Ruiz on the film: "I began La présence réelle (The Real Presence) first. I. N. A. had commissioned me to produce a personal vision of the Festival d'Avignon. This became a fiction about the theater because if I had filmed the actual performances at Avignon I would have had to respect their staging, I would not be able to change anything. As such, I wouldn't be doing anything more than a retransmission of Antenne 2 or FR3. And since a lot would have to be paid for rights to each play, it would end up costing as much as a fiction feature. So it is a story about the theater, a bit Rivette-ish. I shot all the exteriors in Avignon, the interiors in Paris a few days later and I finish the film next Tuesday."