Mona lives with her adult son, Joël, who is "slow," as they say. He works in a specialized facility and is passionately in love with his coworker, Océane, who is also disabled. While Mona knows nothing of their relationship, she eventually learns that Océane is pregnant, and the symbiotic bond between mother and son falters.

In the French Jura Mountains, at the end of a fictitious Middle Ages, Else is an herbalist and a midwife. She and her young apprentice Nicole are interrupted during their daily practice: a stranger riding a horse has asked all the women of the village to gather in the small church.