Nathalie Lapointe is in her early forties, a single mother of three with a successful career as columnist at a major newspaper. Just as she’s starting to think she might be able to pay more attention to her own needs, she gets terrible news: the cancer from which she recovered two years previously is back. How can she break the news to her kids? How can the family plan for the future with this sword of Damocles hanging over them? Despite the shock, life goes on. Nathalie must cope with evolving circumstances at the paper as well as at home. She wonders if she can allow herself to fall in love with her daughters’ school principal. As for her children, they must deal with their own teenage life challenges, all the while knowing that their mother may soon be gone. Nathalie’s best friend and neighbor is particularly hard-hit by the news: she’s already suffering from her husband’s infidelity and from the absence of her son, who is overseas. Nathalie’s misfortune also has a powerful effect on her three siblings. They must re-think their priorities at a time when all three are facing crucial choices in their emotional and professional lives. For Nathalie’s parents Janine and Gérard, her illness makes no sense. How do you face the very real possibility that your child will die before you?

Marie Lamontagne, a widowed mother of two in her forties, confesses to a murder she didn't commit to protect her daughter. Thrust into brutally unfamiliar and hostile surroundings, she first learns survival, then confronts the biggest challenge of her life: bonding with her fellow inmates and helping them take back control of their lives.