Laurent comes to visit his father not far from Bethune. But his father, who lives a hermits life deep in the woods, has only one thing on his mind: to do away with his six children in order to relieve them of the upcoming miseries of life. At the Caboche farm where his brother Frédéric works he is advised not to try to see their father. Not much later Laurent is delighted to see hardy 81-year-old father again. And the gods are not far off.