In October 1970, members of the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped Minister Pierre Laporte, triggering an unprecedented crisis in Quebec. Fifty years later, Félix Rose tries to understand what could have led his father and uncle to commit such acts. Thanks to the confidences of his uncle Jacques, who agrees for the first time to speak on the subject, and to the precious traces left by his father Paul, he revives the rich heritage of a Quebec working family and gives back to the October crisis its social dimension. The fruit of ten years of research, Les Rose allows us to revive moments and characters that we only knew through a few clichés, and gives a glimpse of the social blockage experienced by a rebellious youth and the upheavals that followed.

Robert Lepage directed this Canadian comedy, filmed in black and white and color and adapted from Lepage's play The Seven Branches of the River Ota. In October 1970, Montreal actress Sophie (Anne-Marie Cadieux) appears in a Feydeau farce at the Osaka World's Fair. Back in Montreal, her boyfriend Michel (Alexis Martin) watches the October Crisis on TV and sees Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau declare the War Measures Act. The Canadian Army patrols Montreal streets. Sophie learns she's pregnant and phones Michel. However, Michel is immersed in politics, while Sophie rejects the amorous advances of her co-star (Eric Bernier), becomes friendly with a blind translator, and passes an evening with frivolous Canadian embassy official Walter (Richard Frechette) and his wife Patricia (Marie Gignac). Meanwhile, in Montreal, Michael plots terrorist activities. Commenting on East-West cultural distinctions, the film intercuts between Quebec (in black and white) and Japan (in color).