An Island Upside Down spans more than a century on the island of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean. The story follows Jo, Léone, and their children, whose fate is set in motion in 1730 with the hanging of a famous pirate. As the legend goes, moments before his death, he threw a parchment into the crowd, shouting ‘My treasure, to whoever can take it!’

Two hundred years later, treasure hunters are still searching. Jo is convinced he will be the one to uncover it. So, he digs into the ground until his arms give out, meanwhile his wife, Léone, grows restless in their marital cottage and will do anything to escape this ‘island of misfortune’… even conspiring to rob a bank with her lover.