1941. Southern France, under the control of Marshal Pétain. Young François Augieras joins the organization of young fascists, but is soon disappointed: “I’m ready to be an anti-Christian, but not a Hitlerite!” He considers himself the Rimbaud of the Pétain era, he is passionate about Nietzscheanism, hates Paris and dreams of freeing Europe from Jesus so that it can find its true soul.

I am wearing trousers and a jacket made of dark fabric, rough leather shoes on my bare feet , I am young, I am only seventeen years old; I am a son of my time, and it seems beautiful to me.

He wants to become a pagan, the first to take a step towards the trees and stars. He ends up in the army, a monastery, and an insane asylum. He travels through Africa and enters into a love affair with his uncle, a colonel in the French army. He writes a scandalous novel, "The Old Man and the Boy." He flirts with Andre Gide. He teases the artist Roger Bissier. He revels in youth, is not afraid of anything and is ready for daring experiments with human nature.