Taking place in an unnamed African country torn by a rebellion, Maria, a fierce and fearless white woman, refuses to abandon her coffee crops and to acknowledge the danger to which she is exposing her family. For her, to leave is to surrender: a sign of weakness, of cowardice. On this plantation which has already supported three generations of whites, Andre--her ex-husband and father of their teenage son--is afraid of her blind, stubborn pride. Without her knowing, he resolves to arrange the family's escape, their return to France. Coffee no longer means anything to him. He has married again, a young African woman, with whom he has a son and for them, he will stop at nothing.