Nozias Faustin is a simple fisherman left alone to raise a little girl after the death of his beloved wife. He has neither the means nor the know-how needed for such a monumental task and has to rely on the kindness of the community to help him. In this respect, Nozias is the perfect encapsulation of the town of Ville Rose: he is a good, honest man whose life is marked by tragedy, who comes to depend on the community in order to survive.

Perhaps the defining relationship in Nozias’s life is with his daughter, Claire, (named after her mother). While he was undoubtedly in love with his wife, the narrative focuses more on the time he spends with his daughter. Throughout the seven years he has spent raising his daughter, Nozias faces a constant question: whether to give up Claire to someone who can care for her. When Gaëlle agrees to take Claire, and Claire disappears, all of the people of Ville Rose are bound together by their determination to find the missing girl, while the various narrative strands (Nozias, Claire, Gaëlle, and even Max Junior) focus their climaxes on this exact moment.