A dramatization of Émile Zola's greatest novel. Hired in the Montsou mines, Étienne Lantier meets the Maheu family and falls in love with their daughter Catherine. She is courted by Chaval, a brutal worker. When the Compagnie des Mines lowered wages, Étienne, already outraged by this misery, rose up. Dreaming of justice, he pushes for a strike. Weeks go by, the starving strikers struggle, but, victims of violent repression, resign themselves to returning to work

At the end of the failed robbery, all are isolated, injured or prisoners. The cops are on their trail and already, in the neighborhood, young people are trying to take the place they left. Outside, the world of organized crime seems far too wild for them. Will they be able to come together again and free Inès from the clutches of the dangerous Colonel Sekhou? Caught in the storm they themselves unleashed, can they save their skins?

Pauline regains her freedom when her husband dies, but her silence about the event places her under suspicion.