A struggling American writer and a fellow American expatriate begin a sordid affair among the chaos and discord of 1940 Paris, France on the brink of World War II.
Adam is a young farmer. As a child, fleeing the bleak reality of his mother's life as a prostitute, he tumbled from a mountain and was mentally injured. Years later, his mother is dying, so Adam sells their only cow to pay for medicine. Rosa, a beautiful young maid, fleeing the sexual exploitation of a wealthy butcher, climbs up to join them on their remote farm and dares to become part of Adam's world. A cycle of life begins again, in a remote turn-of-the-century village tied to the land and its animals.
Saturnin is a servant who becomes his master's master. A young man of good social standing and upbringing, somewhat conservative, acquires, through no fault of his own, a servant named Saturnin. Saturnin effectively becomes his employer's master and causes a series of surprising twists and situations in his previously peaceful life. Without Saturnin, these would be difficult to manage. If only because without him, they would probably never have happened.
