In Quebec 40s, orphans or abandoned children are placed in a gigantic psychiatric hospital where children were locked. Were they sick? No, they simply had no family. To escape this oppressive universe, they created a parallel world: the institution's basement where, in a maze of tunnels, they founded an independent company, with its rituals, spells. A young girl, Agnes, reigns over this underground world that adults seem to tolerate.

A young man feels compelled to travel with his grand-father. The young man wants to find his father who ran away with the corpse of his ex-wife.

At a maximum security prison, there is preparation for the annual party where entertainers and strippers are scheduled to perform. But not everyone is having fun. A man is sent to solitary, his wife has a nervous breakdown, and a convict prepares to make a daring escape.

Set in a small rural town in the Quebec Laurentian Mountains, Michelle lives in an isolated house with her mentally-challenged brother Guy and her 13 year old daughter Manon. Together the three of them survive by running a small firewood business and performing other odd jobs. Michelle is frustrated with living in poverty and being the center of several people who demand her affection; her brother is like a second child who lives in his own world, his romantic obsession with their wealthy client Madame Viau-Vachon being an exercise in futility. Maurice, the local police chief, is her lover and Gaetan, a mechanic and family friend, would like to be. Most demanding of all is her daughter, who has an unhealthy emotional dependence on her. Precocious and uninterested in school, Manon is jealous of her mother's suitors and angry at being left home to do chores and care for Guy. Then an event occurs that threatens the emotional dynamic between Manon and her mother.