A young woman, living with her parents and siblings on a remote farm in harsh, picturesque northern Québec, has three suitors: a steady and unimaginative farmer, Eutrope, the Americanized and wealthy Lorenzo, who has sought his fortune in Boston, and François Paradis, a rough and virile logger who captures her heart despite the warnings of her parents and the village priest. For a year, marked by seasonal change in an atmosphere charged with the strangeness of Indians and the demons of the woods, we see Maria at work and prayer, struggling with decisions, choosing to stay in Canada, in love with François, seeking to change his rough behaviors, and dealing with extraordinary loss.

A dying man films his last month.

Summoned by his bosses to broadcast only neutral information, Jean, a reporter, leaves town with his friend to go and collect testimonies from simple people, in the heart of the Laurentians, and reach out to them and outside society at genuine freedom, happiness. The departure is joyous, but the isolation in which they confine themselves does not bring either of them the results they expected. The adventure ends in failure. Would it be an illusion to believe that one can escape the community to which one belongs?