Pauline is the mother of Andrea, a 6-year-old autistic boy. Freshly separated from his father, she finds herself having to move into a shared living situation with her brother and sleeping in the living room. Approaching 40, one could dream of better circumstances, but let's say she doesn't really have a choice. Her son has a passion for animals, is sensitive, obsessive, full of energy and at times very choleric. She would so much like to have an instruction manual on how to deal with the changes between moments of joy and moments of helplessness, violence too, and why one noise might trigger him and another not. Fighting on a daily basis to maintain him in a conventional school system while making a living as a waitress, she has to juggle complicated schedules and a complicated family... and at the same time try to fulfil herself as a woman. In short, Pauline is at her breaking point