Pierre is 25 years old when he returns from Wyoming to take over his father's farm in his French homeland with his fiancée Claire. The young farmer is bursting with new ideas and zest for action, whereas his father Jacques finds it difficult to let go. Twenty years later, the business has grown and with it the family. But the happy days of shared devotion to farm and land will soon be a thing of the past. Because despite self-sacrificing hard work to the point of exhaustion and the active support of Claire and the two children, the debts grow - and with them Pierre's despair.