When 11-year-old Hamadi leaves Guinea for France, the future looks bright. But nothing will go as planned. Downgraded, marginalized, he soon discovers that the words inscribed on the façades of the buildings of our Republic are a lie.

This is the familiar story of a family that loses its social status after leaving their home in Guinea to have a chance at better life in France. The father’s certification as a surgeon turns out to be worthless in France and he ends up working as a nurse in a hospice. They move to the Parisian suburbs, where Marie gets a job in a supermarket. Their oldest son Hamadi falls in with a group of local boys who like a fight and initiate him into petty crime. He gives up on school and starts working for a local pimp and dealer, watching over girls at night in the Bois de Boulogne… Inevitably, he joins the ranks of those for whom France’s promise of equality turns out to be a lie.