The 1960s. Émilienne and Boris are from Martinique and meet in Paris. But they come from different worlds. Boris studies philosophy at the Sorbonne and hangs out in the Latin Quarter with his petit-bourgeois friends. Émilienne, on the other hand, arrives in France through Bumidom—the Office for the Development of Migration in the Overseas Departments—which brings thousands of people from Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Réunion to mainland France to work as mail carriers, nursing assistants, factory workers, and police officers…
But Émilienne sees her destiny slipping away: she will never become a nurse. She ends up on a sidewalk on Boulevard Barbès, at the mercy of a horrible pimp from the Caribbean. It is in this seedy neighborhood, which he frequents in secret, that Boris falls in love with the beautiful Câpresse: her lips smile, but her eyes express an indescribable sadness…
Boris and Émilienne recognize each other: they have things to learn from one another, so they strike a deal—she will tell him her life story, and he will put it into words. Will Boris be able to bring this *Roman de l’Égarée*—a story of shattered dreams and exile—to a successful conclusion?
