 On 15 January 1949, the former music teacher Clément Mathieu (Gérard Jugnot) arrives in "Fond de l  Etang" ("Bottom of the Well"), a boarding school for orphans and problematic boys, to work as an inspector. The place is administrated with iron fist by the cruel director Rachin (François Berléand), and most of the boys have severe punishments for their faults. Clément decides to teach the boys to sing in a choir in their spare time, and identify the musical potential of the rebel Pierre Morhange (Jean-Baptiste Maunier), the son of a beautiful single mother for whom he feels a crush. He also has a special feeling for the young Pépinot (Maxence Perrin), a boy that expects the visit of his father every Saturday near the gate, but indeed lost his parents in the war. With his methods, Clément changes the lives of the boys, of the other employees and his own.