In Abitibi, in 1948, Richard Bombardier, a miner,dies tragically on Saint-Valentine's Day night. The entire mining community believes it was Mathilde his wife, who killed him, which is not true. To avenge herself, Mathilde seduces Robert Sincennes and Roch Devos, the town's union leaders and husbands of Anita and Marguerite, who started the rumour. She becomes pregnant, not knowing if it was Roch or Robert who is the father! This vengeance does not help Mathilde who obliterates herself with alcohol. Anita does not forgive Rober, who exiles himself in the foreign legion to please his son Louis, who dreams of becoming a soldier like his childhood hero, Simon le Légionnaire. Robert brings Roch with him after Marguerite Devos throws herself at the mining boss, Iram Walker, whom she marries without love and lives a life of luxury and decadence with her artist friends.