The shattered destiny of a young conscript thrown into the middle of the Algerian war.

1957. Christian Beretton, aged 20, is called up to serve in Algeria. For him, who has never left Nantes, everything is new: the country, the climate, the military routine, life far from his family… By chance, he is posted to a small barracks, lost in the middle of the boondocks, in an area reputed to be calm.

But a weapons theft upsets the fragile balance between the barracks and the village. Fear and suspicion dangerously poison relations between soldiers and villagers.

In this poisonous atmosphere, Christian nevertheless finds love. He meets Jeanne, the daughter of an influential Frenchman in the village. As his daily life sinks into violence and war, his time with Jeanne offers him respite and the promise of a future. Will they manage to escape the course of history to fulfil their dreams?

A sensitive, moving and richly documented novel about the Algerian War, through the eyes of a young man born at the wrong time.