Behind the counter of his shop, Simon, a grocer of Jewish denomination, has always been the confidant, the healer and the memory of the inhabitants of Zarzis, a small town in the south-east of Tunisia. His shop is a meeting-place for a collection of portraits; Tahar the progressive teacher; Hadi the accursed painter; Fatma the matchmaker; Béchir the taxi-driver... The shop turns in succession into a political and philosophical arena where everyone expresses their own vision of the world.
The image of an ageless black woman, who is called Oummi Fatma or Myriam or Selma, is engraved forever on the memory of every inhabitant of Zarzis, our small native town located in the south-east of Tunisia. This fantastic matchmaker of all work is indispensable because she is fully in charge of the complex ritual of the wedding ceremony and facilitates the bride and groom's difficult transition to married life. Oummi Fatma is one of the last women of her generation who still goes through this ritual whose secrets she alone knows and which a brutal modernization threatens to end forever.
Farid, a teenager of Algerian descent, spends his free time hanging out with the wrong crowds in the suburbs south of Paris while maintaining a secret relationship with illustrator Jean. Both Jean and Farid are unsure about the future of their relationship - Farid wants Jean to move to Algiers with him, but Jean doesn't want to continue being Farid's secret. But when Farid becomes embroiled in a police matter, both his passionate private life and conservative family life hurtle towards one another, with explosive results.
