Un mousse de Surcouf

In the aftermath of the French Revolution, the three‑masted merchant ship Bretagne departs Brest, its sails full as it carries a mix of sailors and desperate emigrants seeking a new life across the Atlantic. Hunger, political upheaval and the promise of opportunity drive a hundred twenty passengers toward the distant shores of South America. Yet the waters are patrolled by British warships, ever ready to challenge any French vessel daring to break the blockade.

Among them is the young physician Charles Ternant, traveling with his wife and two small children, Anne and Guillaume. He hopes to use a modest inheritance to establish a practice in the Spanish colonies of the Río de la Plata, a region still largely untamed. Their fragile optimism is shattered when, near the Canary Islands, the distant outline of a British corvette appears, forcing the crew to decide whether to flee southward or risk a deadly encounter, while the sea itself proves as unforgiving as the turmoil they left behind.