Baptiste is a loner. A gifted primary teacher living in the south of France, he knows how to bring their schoolwork alive for his pupils but never remains in the same job for more than a term. His unremarkable appearance masks cracks, even violence. When he is left unwittingly in charge of Mathias one weekend by the child's negligent father, the boy takes Baptiste to his mother Sandra, a dazzling but fragile woman who works on the beach near Montpellier.