Freddy (David Douche) is an unemployed twentysomething who suffers epileptic fits. He and his gang of pals ride aimlessly through the countryside on their motorbikes, and the daily boredom of his unfocussed life is relieved only by playing in a marching band. When his girlfriend Marie welcomes the advances of Kader, an Arab boy, Freddy, filled with jealousy and aided by his pals, thrashes the boy to death on a country backroad.

Bruno Dumont films a cast of non-professional local actors with astonishing results. His dynamic cinematographic style from wide shot to close-up invigorates the viewer while vividly capturing the tone and nuances of the small isolated town and its occupants, their unrealised dreams, and the casual eroticism and deep vein of violence hovering beneath the surface. Contains scenes of a graphic sexual nature.<