In a dystopian future, Étienne, the son of an influential family in City 14 (formerly Montreal), flees to a neighboring commune to escape an alienating world. He finds himself torn between two opposing realities, where freedom clashes with comfort, leading to a tragic struggle for emancipation.
As a civil war shakes the Quebec province of Canada, Valerie is the sole survivor of a mass execution where her boyfriend is killed. Years later, she’s in a close relationship with her new partner, Gabriel. At the Long Term Care Center where she works as an orderly, she befriends Jeanne, an erudite and funny woman, dealing with an important physical handicap. Mixing realism and worrying strangeness, The Laugh presents a humane exploration of the survivor’s syndrome, the grieving process, the distance of time, the power of love, and the joy of being alive.