During the 'Grande noirceur' in Québec, Michel Paquette, 12 years old and suffering from polio, skips Sunday mass to read poetry at the publishing house St-Amour et fille. His old friend, Archange St-Amour, who is struggling with Parkinson's, needs Michel to help him type Vive le Québec Laïque, an anti-clerical pamphlet. The pamphlet outrages the clergy. The Church's vengeance is nothing compared to that of Michel and his friends. These young people defy the clerical order and risk everything in their quest for a secular and egalitarian Quebec.