In a near-future France, François, an academic middle-aged man, sees his life slowly falling apart. His sex drive is diminished, his parents are dead, and his lifelong obsession with the ideas and works of the nineteenth-century novelist and pessimist Joris-Karl Huysmans has led him nowhere. In a late-capitalist society where consumerism has become the new religion, François is spiritually barren but seeks something to fill the void of his existence.

He is not alone. With the approach of the 2022 presidential elections, two candidates emerge as favorites: Marine Le Pen from the National Front and Muhammad Ben Abbes from the rising Muslim Brotherhood. Ben Abbes forms a controversial alliance with the established parties, gains power, and overnight the country is transformed. Islamic law comes into effect: women are veiled, and polygamy is promoted.