In Yangambi, next to the Congo River, the army of Leopold II of Belgium imposes order under the command of Lalande Biran. As a poet, Biran's only objective is to amass a fortune and return to Paris. The characters that surround him turn the wilderness of the jungle into a circus of ambitions and human absurdities. But things take a different turn with the arrival of a new officer, an unerring marksman who hides an enigmatic personality.