A Common Thread

Stella is 6 but she is going to school for the first time. Happy, exuberant (maybe too much) she is a lovely child, but is often absent. Her parents say she is fragile. She tells her teacher, Céline, she fell when asked why she has a few bruises. Is it child abuse or real immune deficiency? The doubt is growing in the mind of those who meet the child. Worried, Céline notes every injury until the day the family moves without telling anyone.

Provence, 1847. The son of a wealthy landowner in the south of France, Jean-Baptiste, loses his mother in a tragic accident. His truculent father, who was always envious of his son and his relationship with his mother, takes a harlot he met a few months earlier as his new bride. Soon after, Jean-Baptiste is falsely accused by his "stepmother" of trying to take advantage of her. In disgust, his father banishes him forever from the family home. Jean-Baptiste's only solution is to live with Blanche, his mother's sister, in the mountains.

Twenty-something Freddy is becalmed in a podunk French village where the only sign of life is the local amateur brass band and youth aimlessly roaming around the countryside on scooters. He has an intense sexual connection with his girlfriend but has no joy or passion to give her. When she falls for a handsome Arab youth a tragedy unfolds.

Lyon, France in 1970s, Sibylle, Corinne, and Georgette are sisters who share everything, as they live with their Italian mother. Sibylle is the only blonde in the family, except for their father who abandoned them, and she feels isolated. She dreams of meeting her French father one day.

Holed up in a small Normandy town, Louise hides from her ghosts as she looks after grumpy old Theo, the retired lighthouse keeper who shares her passion for ornithology. As she wanders the twisted shores, observing birds and people alike, Louise also keeps track of old Florelle, another broken soul who searches the beaches, seemingly waiting for the crashing waves to return something to her. Observing the locals' reactions to Lambert's return, the heir of a family lost at sea, Louise is intrigued by his past but, at the same time, attracted to him. As their relationship deepens, they start to unravel the web of secrets that have haunted the small village for decades. Together, they struggle to uncover the truth that could set them both free.