Despite Lise's advice, Claire decides to celebrate Christmas with Leon, a young outcast who claims to live outside the system. They agree to organize an anticapitalist Christmas Eve, prohibiting all expenses. Meanwhile, Mathias delivers presents as Santa for a well-paid temporary assignment.
Luc travels to Paris for the first time to sit the entrance exam for a carpentry school. There he meets Djemila, a young worker with whom he enjoys a short romance, before returning to his home town and beginning a relationship with Geneviève, whom he has known since childhood. Caught between two passions, Luc runs, resolving to fulfil his father's dreams by devoting himself to his future... until finally, he experiences true love.