The setting is Québec's 1970 "October Crisis" seen from the back room of a rural grocery store in the winter following "The Events." A 12-year-old girl watches as suspected terrorists and RCMP agents suddenly descend upon her hard-working mother. This long winter will change her life and teach her the meaning of the word "liberty."

« MARGUERITE : I'm not worried. I know you, I know you're not a criminal. / JOGUES : You call them criminals? / MARGUERITE : Well… Rubbing banks, bombs, kidnappings, they're not choir boys. And when someone gets murdered… Look, I'm not stupid, I see what's going on, too. That Minister they killed, when you get down to it, he was a guy like you and me, and now they've made a hero of him. Except a man's death - any man's death - is still a death.People who decide on someone else's death are responsible for that for the rest of their lives. / JOGUES : Yep! I couldn't agree more. »