The year is 1943 and the place is Balandou, a small village in Guinea. The plot revolves around Adjutant Mariani, some kind of a misfit. Despised by his superiors, hated by his wife Marie-France, he represents colonial France while dreaming of Africa and its mysteries. When pro-independence Lanseye Kante, the new manager of the school, arrives in the village, turmoil arises.