Stéphane (Damien Bonnard) has recently joined the Anti-Crime Brigade in Montfermeil, in the Paris suburbs. Alongside his new colleagues Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djibril Zonga)—both experienced members of the team—he quickly discovers tensions running high between neighborhood gangs. When they find themselves overrun during the course of an arrest, a drone captures their every movement, their every action...

Inspired by the 2005 riots in Paris, director Ladj Ly explores contemporary Montfermeil, the same place where author Victor Hugo set Les Misérables in 1862. More than 150 years later, the similarities between today's angry, hoodie-wearing youth and Gavroche are only too clear.