Sophie is a brilliant student. Encouraged by her maths teacher, she leaves the family farm to attend a science preparatory class. Between new encounters, successes and failures, and faced with fierce competition, Sophie realizes that her dream of joining the Polytechnique represents more than an entrance examination but a true challenge of social climbing.
A few months after May '68, Robert, a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and a far-left activist, decides to get a job at Citroën as a line worker. Like other comrades, he wants to infiltrate the factory to rekindle the revolutionary fire, but the majority of workers no longer want to hear about politics. When Citroën decides to pay back the Grenelle Agreements by requiring workers to work 3 hours overtime per week for free, Robert and some others see the possibility of a social movement.
France, 1789 - just before the Revolution. When talented chef Manceron is dismissed from his prestigious position by the Duke of Chamfort, he loses the taste for cooking. But when he meets the mysterious Louise, together they decide to create the very first restaurant in France.
November, 1953. Pauline Dubuisson is accused of the cold-bloodied murder of her lover Félix. But who exactly is this young woman that the whole of France wants to see convicted? A cold calculating social climber? Or a free spirit, asserting her emancipation before it became fashionable?