Loosely inspired by an actual case, it tells the story of a disillusioned army officer whose love for his wife in her efforts to save a convicted murderer leads him to disobey orders.

By that time Néel is a changed man, who has learned to read and has even become a father after a quick encounter with a young widow whose roof he was mending.

When the ship with the guillotine eventually approaches, its rudder is broken and the island's men are asked to tow it inshore in rowing boats, one being Néel.

Seeing how powerfully he rows, Madame La fills a boat with food and tells him to escape in it to the British island of Newfoundland.

Though set in the French colony of St Pierre and Miquelon, the movie was filmed in the restored Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.