A novelist attends the trial of a woman accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter by abandoning her to the rising tide on a beach in northern France. But as the trial continues, her own family history, doubts, and fears about motherhood are steadily dislodged as the life story of the accused is gradually revealed.
Hilda, the new housemaid, brings about an awakening in the life of wealthy Mrs. Le Marchand, who recalls her revolutionary past, questions her frivolous present and experiences an identity crisis.
Amidst turmoil and racial conflict in a Francophone African state, a white French woman fights for her coffee crop, her family and ultimately for her life.
