In the Beauce region (depicted as a sort of Québécois Deep South), the Gilbert family represents, to the other villagers, all that is evil in their midst. The mother and daughter are forced by poverty into prostitution, while the son, Taureau, an incredibly strong but simple-minded young man, has long been the village scapegoat. When he falls in love with the local schoolteacher, the villagers feel compelled to destroy him.

The English subtitled version of this film was produced using a unique 35mm print produced originally for festival use in the 1970s. Although the overall technical quality of the film does not meet the NFB’s normal standards, since this was the only source of English subtitles for the film, we have chosen to make it available anyway.