Thomas, a troubled thirteen-year-old boy, picking flowers in a cemetery, is surprised by Martin, an escaped convict who demands that the boy bring him some money for train fare later that day. The boy does not know where to get money; the criminal tells him to ask his parents. "My parents are dead," the boy says. In fact, his parents, Maurice and Lili, are alive. They are separated but they both live near the boy's grandparents' house. Thomas, disaffected by his parents divorce, goes to a boarding catholic school but is spending the weekend with his family and he is going to have first communion. His grandmother is arranging to celebrate that special day and hopes her daughter and son in law would reconcile.