In the 1890s, Father Adolf Daens goes to Aalst, a textile town where child labor is rife, pay and working conditions are horrible, the poor have no vote, and the Catholic church backs the petite bourgeoisie in oppressing workers. He writes a few columns for the Catholic paper, and soon workers are listening and the powerful are in an uproar. He's expelled from the Catholic party, so he starts the Christian Democrats and is elected to Parliament. After Rome disciplines him, he must choose between two callings, as priest and as champion of workers. In subplots, a courageous young woman falls in love with a socialist and survives a shop foreman's rape; children die; prelates play billiards.

At the dawn of her thirties, Mona tries relentlessly to take off as an actress. Time passes and proposals do not arrive. Short of resources, she is forced to move to Sam, her younger sister.

MC Solaar, perhaps France’s most famous rapper, revisits his greatest hits accompanied by the New Big Band Project, the combination of the Orchestre national d’Île de France with jazz group The Ice Kream.

The remarkable Holocaust story of the Jews of Belgium is told through the life of a remarkable man, professor Shaul Harel, who survived at 4 years old through the kindness of Jews and Christians alike.

On the island of Mauritius, which belongs to Africa, musician and globetrotter Sîla meets three generations of musicians who recount the island's musical and political history with lots of music. The colonial power France once brought slaves from Madagascar and the African mainland to the island, where they had to toil on the sugar cane plantations. The slaves developed a musical style of freedom with homemade instruments – Séga. Today, this music is considered the "blues of the Indian Ocean." Different, very rhythmic styles have developed. The performers of "Séga engazé" and "Seggae" – a reggae sound – are representatives of a revolutionary music that raises its voice against oppression, racism, and violence against women. The musicians believe in the power of music as a mouthpiece for a rather voiceless island society and in its unifying element across all religious and ethnic differences.