Omar is part of the first generation of Algerian immigrants to be raised in France. He lives outside of Lyon in a chaâba, a tight-knit community of families who share everything, including a fierce resistance to assimilation that is fed by constant rejection by the French. Omar is an intelligent boy but he cannot help but be changed by the ideas of the French authors he is reading, and jealous classmates accuse him of abandoning his own people. When the news comes that the French government, embarrassed by the existence of the chaâba, wants to send in bulldozers, the battle that ensues is a test of wills, and Omar is forced to choose sides. Christophe Ruggia treats a tough topic with empathy and sensitivity.