In a race against time to revive their dying language and culture, the Mi'kmaq of Unama'ki (Cape Breton) are turning to the musical traditions of their ancestors.

David Fennario, the great Quebec playwright (famous for Balconville, among others) and militant socialist, is now confined to a wheelchair, but that has not dampened his will to take action, and fight for progress. Martin Duckworth, a major figure in Canadian documentary cinema, captures all of his contradictory energy. Over the course of this encounter, the filmmaker attentively and enthusiastically records Fennario's charismatic presence, his political humour, his desire to be heard at all costs, for example through his last play, Mother House, a denunciation of the horrors of the First World War. By filming the process of staging the play, Duckworth reflects on the power of art while creating a poignant portrait of a man marked by history.