Le décor où se déroule notre histoire : le Nord et plus particulièrement Roubaix Tourcoing. Ici le textile a été roi et a dominé le monde durant plusieurs décennies. Les héros principaux : une grande famille de négociants de laine, riche et secrète comme cette région a su si bien en produire. Les héros secondaires : les ouvriers (Messaoud, Maurice, Patrick, Bouzid) qui ont croisé durant des décennies cette famille. L’intrigue : les multiples stratégies employées durant des décennies par cette grande famille pour maximiser leur capital, et les conséquences de cette stratégie sur le sort de leurs salariés. D’où le titre du film, "Fortune et Infortunes".

Our story is set in the France’s North, near the towns of Roubaix and Tourcoing close to the Belgian border. A famous area known over many decades for its wool and textile industry, which had been in the hands of a few rich families. Today, the big mills have closed – causing heavy job losses all over the region. The “heroes” of our story are the “two sides of the same coin”: a family of wool merchants - as rich and secretive, as most of the famous big families of the North – and the workers (Messaoud, Maurice, Patrick and Bouzid) whose fate has been intricately linked to the merchant family through the decades. The “plot”: the various business plans and strategies concocted and implemented by this great family in order to maximise their capital – often to the detriment of their employees, who could only grin and bear the consequences. A cross-portrait of “masters” and “servants” who look at bygone glory each from their own standpoint, with a mixture of nostalgia, bitterness and resignation: a story of fortunes and misfortunes in our post-industrialised society