Affluent Parisian couple Anne Laurent and Georges Laurent awaken one morning to a jarring discovery: a videotape that captures hours of footage from their own home, suggesting they are under some form of surveillance. The discovery sparks a tense debate between them about who could be watching and why, weighing possibilities that span from a child’s harmless prank by their 12-year-old son, Pierrot, to the more unsettling notion that it could come from ardent fans of Georges, who hosts a literary television show. A second mysterious tape arrives, accompanied by a childlike drawing of a person with blood streaming from the mouth, and soon more drawings appear in alarming places—mailed to Georges's workplace and Pierrot's school. Alarmed, the Laurents turn to the police, only to be told that the tapes and drawings do not constitute criminal activity, a response that feels alarmingly dismissive to their fear.
During a later dinner party at the Laurents’ home, another videotape arrives, this one featuring a drawing of a chicken bleeding at the neck, and the sense of unease deepens. As Anne shares these perturbing incidents with friends, Georges plays the latest tape, which shows the estate where he grew up, a past that seems to intrude with increasing immediacy. The story then shifts into the realm of sleep and memory as Georges begins to dream vividly about Majid, a boy he once knew in childhood. Majid’s Algerian parents had worked on the family estate but vanished amid the Paris massacre of 1961. The Laurents’ parents had even considered adopting Majid, a plan that was never finalized. Troubled by the possibility that Majid could be involved, Georges visits his ailing mother, Annie Girardot, who surprises him by professing that she does not remember Majid very well.
As the tapes keep arriving, Georges grows increasingly convinced that the source may be Majid, prompting a search that leads him to a low-income housing apartment. Inside, Majid denies knowing anything about the tapes or the drawings, yet Georges, consumed by suspicion, threatens him. A hidden camera had recorded the confrontation, and Majid’s tears after Georges leaves are followed by tapes of the encounter being sent to Anne and Georges’s employer, intensifying the sense of an orchestrated vigil.
Georges attempts to explain to Anne that, when he was six, he learned of his parents’ plan to adopt Majid and, disliking the idea, told lies about Majid, which resulted in Majid being sent away. The situation escalates when Pierrot vanishes, prompting a frantic police response. The investigation quickly focuses on Majid, who, along with Majid’s son, is arrested, though Majid denies involvement in the kidnapping. Pierrot eventually reappears, having spent time with friends, and hints to Anne that she may be too close to Pierre, a family friend, widening the web of suspicion and complicating loyalties.
The tension comes to a head when Majid calls Georges, asking him to return to the apartment. When Georges arrives, Majid disclaims any involvement with the tapes, saying he wanted Georges to be present, and then kills himself by slashing his throat. The confession weighs heavily on Georges, who tells Anne that as a boy he manipulated Majid into killing the family’s rooster by making up stories of coughing blood—an act he now recognises as a grave misjudgment that bears on the present. The police confirm Majid’s death as a suicide, but the drama does not end there: Majid’s son appears at Georges’s workplace to confront him. Believing the son might be behind the surveillance, Georges threatens him to stop, only to hear that the young man was not involved with the tapes and simply wants to know how Georges feels about bearing responsibility for a death. In the final turn, Majid’s son exchanges a quiet, uneasy moment with Pierrot after school, leaving the Laurents and the audience with a lingering sense that past actions, secrets, and loyalties continue to ripple through their lives.
