Ibrahim Bentaieb, a young Belgian of Moroccan descent and registered as a "fil S," is required to write a final paper on a social issue for his final year of high school. However, he struggles with academic problems and decides to quit, even if it means repeating the year. His teacher is determined to help Ibrahim succeed and says, "Choose a topic that interests you, whatever it may be." Ibrahim therefore decides to dedicate his work to Jacky, someone he had met a few months earlier at an interschool workshop. Jacky came from Beth-Yaldout, a Jewish school in the wealthy neighborhoods of Brussels. Geneviève Damas movingly unites two worlds that at first glance seem irreconcilable.