It's 1832, 22-year-old Raphaël's gambling has driven him to the brink of suicide. As he is about to throw himself in the Seine, a shopkeeper offers him something: a mysterious "skin of sorrow", which will grant all his wishes, but in doing so will shrink his remaining time on earth.
Nadia raised, alone, her son Noé in Paris suburbs. She is proud when he is accepted in second in the prestigious high school Henri IV. To promote her studies, she moved to Paris and went into debt to offer what others have. She discovers the pleasure of buying, unknowingly developing an addiction to consumption. Even as her son manages to adapt to his new high school, she can not stop.
Landry and Sylvinet are identical twins who are distraught when they are separated at the age of fourteen. Sent to work on the neighboring farm because phylloxera has ruined his father's vines, Sylvain, the stronger of the two brothers, recovers from the shock but not Sylvinet, who keeps moaning and sulking. Caillaud, the rich farmer who employs Landry is pleased with the way Landry works and lets him woo his daughter Madelon. Some day, due to a misunderstanding between the twins, Sylvinet runs away from home and disappears in the forest. And while Landry tries to find him in the woods he is helped by a little savage, Fadette, who lives there with her spiteful grandmother and her brother. Against all odds, Landry will gradually for this dirty little wild child.
