Jean, a respected theater actor, leads a dissolute life. Separated from the mother of his child, he devotes most of his time to work, alcohol, and women. Sylvain in full adolescence, feels the need to get closer to his father. On a whim, both of them leave to join an old friend of Jean, Bob the American, who lives on an isolated ranch. From then on, they will try to apprehend each other, with clumsiness, hesitation and sometimes even violence.

Nat drives on the interstate with his two young daughters in the back seats, when a car drives by and an unknown guy shoots one of his daughters dead for no reason. Nat's life is shattered. He becomes obsessed with finding the killers, assaults two men, kills one, goes to jail, is left by his wife, grows old estranged from his other daughter. We see the action first through Nat's eyes, then via Brautigan, the cop in charge of the investigation, and finally from the perspective of the remaining daughter Margo. The deconstructed narrative echoes the chaos within Nat and emphasizes the fact that the characters are out of tune with one another, which is the meaning of the original title.

They are between 14 and 17 years old and live with other teenagers in a home in the heart of the Vosges forest. All of them have been placed there by social services.

Broken Poet is a compelling investigation into the meaning of success, rock stardom and even freedom itself which, as Janis Joplin sang, is just another word for nothing left to lose.