Françoise Barnier works as a cleaning lady in a slaughtery house. With her low pay she can't afford to buy meat for her daughters and all her extra job enquiries are refused. Christmas time is close and without knowing how, she steals some meat for 1500 francs. She can't explain why she did that to the police officers who arrested her. The film follows her journey through the judicial institution. Here, two ideas of justice and law collide.