Manuel, the village doctor, has died. His wife, Nelly, a registered nurse, her two children, Theo and Jeanne, their friend Etienne, are suddenly faced with this harsh reality. The family of the deceased joins them, or rather, what remains of it : Manuel's brother, José, a carpenter, his sister, Mathilde, who has moved far from the village. José and his partner, Serge, another local boy, make his brother's coffin.
The conventionally painful mourning quickly takes a bizarre turn when Nelly refuses to have the undertaker remove the body for the funeral ceremony.