12 year-­old Adama lives in a remote village in West Africa, sheltered by the Cliffs. Out, beyond, lies "the land of breaths", the kingdom of wicked spirits hungry for war. When Samba, his elder brother, suddenly vanishes from the village, Adama decides to set off in search of him.

Accompanied first by Abdou, a tragically lucid griot, then by Maximin, a street urchin who is his own negative twin, he crosses a Europe in the grip of war. We're in 1914. Borne by the energy of desperation and the poetry of childhood, Adama travels to the hell of the frontline in order to free his brother. Ultimately, Adama's love for his brother will open an unexpected way to his initiatory journey.