In 1785, the oldest cemetery located in the heart of Paris is overcrowded and pollutes the breath of the locals. Then Jean-Baptiste Barat appears among them, a young engineer from the province, who has taken on the task of excavating it from the ground up on the orders of the king.

At first, Barat considers the project perfectly suitable for a man of the Age of Enlightenment and an opportunity to cleanse the weight of history. However, before long, he begins to suspect that the destruction of the cemetery may also foreshadow his own.