In a tone that is sometimes amused, sometimes annoyed, Morvandiau explores what it means to be different and all that goes with it. He depicts the intense emotions of the father of a disabled child and the son of an sick mother, and finally, of the joy of being alive.

June 2005. Morvandiau finds out that his mother is suffering from early-onset fronto-temporal dementia, a cousin of Alzheimer's disease. September 2005. His son Emile is born prematurely. He has Down syndrome.
The author now mourns both the mother he knew and the child he'd been waiting for. He looks back over the past months, at the story of his mother, a pious woman with a strong character, and at the difficult learning curve of life with a disabled child.