London, 1870. Pressed by two friends who are fans of true if harsh stories, Marie-Louise de la Ramée, better known by her pen name Ouida, gives a detailed description of a recent trip to Antwerp. The trip has affected her deeply as conditions in the rural world there are particularly difficult. Far from the British levity of her fellow writer Charles Dickens, her story of the misadventures of young Nello and his dog Patrasche is brutally real. Her storytelling style takes no prisoners. It had been a while that Griffo has wanted to pay homage in his own way to a Christmas story from his childhood. He is helped by scriptwriter Marc Legendre. Seen through the prism of the historical crisis of the rural world when confronted with the emergence of a formidable shipbuilding industry, their tale lets us discover another aspect of their immense talent that is marked by a profound humanity.