1968年，五月风暴席卷法国，学生运动风生水起。年轻的诗人弗朗西斯（Louis Garrel 路易斯•加莱尔 饰）逃避兵役，沉湎于大麻、诗歌和爱情之中，与好友安东尼一起，自由挥霍混乱时期的青春。不久一名叫莉莉的女孩出现在弗朗西斯面前，她是个雕塑师，在铸件厂工作。两人很快坠入爱河。 　　一年后，弗朗西斯依然过着颓废自由的生活，而机缘之巧合却使莉莉开始认真思考两人的将来……

On January 2 1899, starting from the French Soudan, a french column under the commandment of the captains Voulet and Chanoine is send against the black Sultan Rabah in what is now the Cameroun. Those captains and their african mercenary troops destroy and kill everything they find on their path. The French autority try to stop them sending orders and a second troop but the captains even kill the emissaries who are reaching them. Sarraounia, queen of the Aznas, have heared about the exactions. Clever in war tactics and in witchcraft, she decides to resist and stop those mad men.