Vincent Garenq co-writes and directs this drama based on real events. The film follows French accountant André Bamberski (Daniel Auteuil) in his struggle for justice following the death of his daughter Kalinka (Emma Besson/Lilas-Rose Gilberti) in mysterious circumstances. Accusing Kalinka's stepfather Dieter Krombach (Sebastian Koch) of deliberately drugging her while she was staying at his German home in Lindau, André is mortified when autopsy results come back inconclusive and the case is dropped. After battling for decades, André finally takes the law into his own hands in a desperate attempt to force a retrial in France.

The directorial debut of French actor Daniel Auteuil, who also assumes one of the film's main roles, is an adaptation of a novel by Marcel Pagnol that was first adapted for cinema by Pagnol himself in 1940. At the beginning of the First World War in rural Provence, 18-year-old Patricia (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), daughter of well-digger Pascal Amoretti (Daniel Auteuil), falls pregnant to Jacques (Nicolas Duvauchelle), the son of wealthy local businessman Mr Mazel (Jean-Pierre Darroussin). But when Jacques is called up as a fighter pilot and goes off to war not knowing that Patricia is pregnant, the well digger's daughter finds herself in a difficult predicament.