Book is in French Isle-aux-Grues, 1959. At twenty-eight years old, Charles Vézina is a man of integrity and determination who dreams of starting a family. His future wife, however, remains nowhere to be found. Of course, there aren't an infinite number of single people in the village. Especially since the young baker has always had difficulty integrating with his peers. It must be said that his beginnings were difficult: his mother died while giving birth to him, and the laborious childbirth left him with after-effects to his legs. His father almost immediately abandoned him in the care of his maternal grandparents. And because of his orphan status and his limping gait, the boy was the bully of his school. The day Jimmy Dancause taunts him one time too many, he decides to register for the ice canoes race at the Quebec carnival to finally beat his sworn enemy. As he barely makes this resolution, he falls under the spell of the voluptuous Jade Denoncourt...