Novelist and filmmaker Jose Giovanni turned to the remarkable true story of how his father helped him escape a date with the guillotine for this drama, which is based closely on events from his own life. During World War II, Manu (Vincent Lecoeur, as a character Giovanni modeled after himself) fought with the French Resistance, but near the end of the war he fell into a life of crime, and in 1947, 22-year-old Manu was arrested for his part in a bungled robbery that left a man dead. While Manu did not pull the fatal trigger, he refuses to say who did, since it would mean implicating his uncle, one of the few members of his family who has stood by him; Manu's brother is dead, and he turned his back on his father Joe (Bruno Cremer) years ago. Manu is sentenced to death, and while he protests his innocence, his attempts to escape from prison do little to convince anyone that he's telling the truth.

A la fin des années quarante, Joe (Bruno Cremer), le père, joue au poker. Emilie (Michelle Goddet), la mère, cherche un système à la roulette. Barthy (Cédric Chevalme), le fils aîné, évadé de prison, vient de se faire abattre. Manu (Vincent Lecoeur), le plus jeune, est condamné à mort. Laetitia (Cécile Thiercelin), la petite dernière, rêve d'être comédienne. Et voilà que les quelques jours qui séparent cette étrange famille de l'ultime recours en grâce décidant de la vie ou de la mort du dernier fils va révéler le courage du père. Ce joueur invétéré, qui se sait méprisé par Manu pour ses faiblesses passées, va se lancer dans la recherche de nouvelles preuves qui permettront de sauver sa vie.