At 2:37, someone commits suicide in the school lavatory. The day is told up to that point from the viewpoint of six different students.
Various experiences of childhood are seen in several sequences that take place in the small town of Thiers, France. Vignettes include a boy's awakening interest in girls, couples double-dating at the movies, brothers giving their friend a haircut, a boy dealing with an abusive home life, a baby and a cat sitting by an open window, a child telling a dirty joke, and a boy who develops a crush on his friend's mother.
When a work-related dispute erupts between their fathers, the friendship of teenagers Joseph and Peter is put under strain.
Several ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.
Indian and Cowboy are about to set off on a magnificent cruise on a luxury liner, but they have made a big mistake. They completely forgot that today is the first day of school! Goodbye tropical islands, our friends are back at their desks in school listening as the teacher drones on and on.
Three teenagers skip school in order to explore an abandoned film studio lot where they catch sight of a woman being dragged by a masked man.
An acclaimed college hoops coach is demoted to a junior varsity team after a public meltdown.
The documentary's title translates as "to be and to have", the two auxiliary verbs in the French language. It is about a primary school in the commune of Saint-Étienne-sur-Usson, Puy-de-Dôme, France, the population of which is just over 200. The school has one small class of mixed ages (from four to twelve years), with a dedicated teacher, Georges Lopez, who shows patience and respect for the children as we follow their story through a single school year.
Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.