Neel Auguste is sentenced to death by the guillotine for the murder of a peasant on the island of Saint-Pierre, Newfoundland. Only problem is: there is no guillotine on the island. The instrument is sent for, and meanwhile Neel Auguste is put to work for Madame La, the wife of the captain in charge of the prisoners. She starts to teach the convict to read, and they become friends. He turns out to be a good man, and when he saves the life of a village woman, nobody wants to see him killed. But then the guillotine arrives... If anything sums up this movie, it is loving detail. Patrice Leconte has put three warm-hearted people in an icecold landscape and shows how much they care for each other in small things: fingers accidentally touching, a look, a smile.<br /><br />Treat yourself and go see it!