Marseille, today. Trapped in the rubble of a collapsing building, Malik, a young Comorian, manages to escape but is arrested for drug possession. In prison, where a war between rival gangs is raging, he must quickly find allies. Massoud, a real estate developer with more or less legal activities, offers him protection in exchange for his loyalty. But Malik soon realizes that he is merely a pawn in Massoud’s game and that he will have to seize power to survive.

During a book signing in Normandy, Annie Ernaux, 70, revisits her memories of the summer of 1958, when she was 17. That summer, she left her hometown to work as a camp counsellor. At the first party, the head counsellor set out to deflower her. Finding him handsome, she lets him do it, as if against her will... Her body becomes a foreign place for her, an offering to be sacrificed.