Patrick, a young Frenchman in his thirties, has been working for a year in a small village in Burkina Faso. He has a relationship for a few months with a 25-year-old village girl, Kaya, who becomes pregnant. When their daughter Martine is born, Patrick flees with her to Europe. The shock of this loss makes Kaya mute. Seven years later, Patrick returns to the village to maintain the boreholes he had built. He arrives with his daughter Martine. The villagers welcome him with reservation. Patrick learns that Kaya has gone silent. Unfortunately, not being able to stay too long in the village, Patrick entrusts Martine to Kaya for a few hours. Discovering her daughter's poor upbringing, Kaya decides to run away into the night with Martine...