Optimistic hobo Isa has a gritty existence on the road, going from one town to another through northern France, working factory jobs and selling cards. After she loses a garment-factory job, her withdrawn, near-catatonic co-worker Marie lets Isa share space in her Lille living quarters - an apartment actually belonging to a hospitalized mother and daughter. Marie begins an affair with burly bouncer Charly before achieving an emotional breakthrough with sleazy, animalistic club-owner Chriss. Meanwhile, Isa becomes fascinated with the girl who lived in the apartment but now lies in a coma at the hospital. The film combines handheld camerawork with a minimalist music score and documentary-like street sounds.

"It's an insightful movie which views its characters (the type of 'marginal' folk rarely shown in the cinema) sympathetically but unsentimentally, and after the scene setting of the first half-hour, it grips like a vice as it proceeds to a shocking and profoundly moving conclusion." Geoff Andrew, Time Out Film Guide