Lindon plays Thierry, who we find at the beginning of the film unemployed for a year and a half since being laid off from his job as a factory worker, desperate for any form of work in order to make ends meet, with a wife and special-needs child to take care of, and an apartment that he's just a few years from paying off. He's trying as best as he can to get back on his feet, but he feels less than himself without a job, such that he's willing to suffer as many indignities as required from a host of potential employers and job center employees who either treat him with apathy, if not belittle him with acute condescension.