One autumn morning in 1958, Manuel, 27, finds himself in a convoy of seasonal workers heading for the harsh work in the Camargue rice fields. He has fled his country, Franco's Spain, where he is a wanted man after wounding a "civil guard" during the crack-down on a strike in the Bilbao mines. Penniless, looking for work, he falls into the clutches of a "labour trader", a certain Roger who hires out illegal immigrants on request and shamelessly exploits them... Little by little, beneath the outer aspect of this rough, brutal and hated man, Manuel discovers a lonely individual who craves affection...