The history of decolonization from the point of view of colonized peoples, an epic story that still resonates and reverberates to this day.

Toussaint opposes the Spanish army and joins the French troops. On Saint-Domingue he succeeds to push the English back. He proclames himself as the gouvernor of Saint-Domingue. To restore the economy he takes a bold descision. He calls for the workers to return to the plantages...

In 1939 in eastern Algeria, Omar, a young boy of ten, lives with his family in a room in Dar Sbitar, a house shared by several families who overcome the trials they go through every day to ensure their subsistence. Her deceased father is Aïni, the mother, who bleeds herself from all four veins to keep her children and their grandmother alive. The families of Dar Sbitar share their intimacy and their daily life, this life animates the big house, which itself becomes a character in its own right. "El Harik" (The Fire), is an Algerian drama series in 10 episodes adapted from Mohamed Dib's trilogy "The Big House", "The Fire" and "The Loom".

Through the fictionalized lives of two young Saint-Simonians, this television film presents the history of French colonization in Algeria from 1837 to the end of the Second Empire.