Annecy is no tourist destination for three working-class Algerian brothers and their father, in the months after their mother has died. Marc is deeply troubled: he tries to stiff drug dealers and then plots revenge. Christophe is released from jail, lands a job, and must overcome various temptations in order to keep it. Olivier, nearing 18, may be falling in love with Hicham...

Alex belongs to an elite unit of the Geneva police. When Victor, his former teammate, is released from prison, Alex is caught up with his past. He testified against Victor, and fears reprisals. The ex-cop is hired as a henchman for a powerful mafia boss. Alex decides to follow him, without consulting his superiors, and begins a long descent into hell.

In Paris, in 1943, Jules, a 19-year-old Jew, lived without an ideal, tossed about by circumstances. He becomes in turn a traitor then a hero. Thomas, his fifteen-year-old brother, wants to act and fight in resistance.