Michel and Hélèn Aubertin form a perfect couple. Michel is an ambitious notary and Hélèn splits her time between charity work and raising their son. There is nothing unusual about them apart from the fact that Michel has a dark secret: every weekend, he goes to Les Épicéas, his house in the Vosges forest, and turns into Mylène. "It felt impossible for me to tell a story about France in 1959, without talking about the war in Algeria. This war had no name, and stirred up memories of so much suffering experienced during the two first World Wars. [...] For Michel, being a transvestite is a kind of relief, a subconscious response to the Second World War trauma he had experienced with his friend Jean-Marie. This trauma makes him even blinder to important political movements arising in front of his eyes."