The film is about an unhappy mother who left her husband and a young son. She works as a singer and the boy is in the oven at the house on the wreath. The housekeeper beats the son and he runs away.

Widowed carpenter Vincenz Olivier lives with his 8-year-old son Boubou in a small French town. But on the day he is supposed to marry the mayor′s daughter, Louise, his dark past catches up with him: Ten years ago, Vincenz – whose real name is Leon Bernier – escaped from prioson after being convicted of murdering his lover′s sister. Taking Boubou with him, Vincenz, who then and now still denies the crime, flees from the police in a desperate attempt to prove his innocence.