Arthur lives in a suburban town where everyone nicknames him Rimbaud, because he has always been a brilliant student. He has also just been admitted to a prestigious school where he thought he would fit in without difficulty. But during an oral exam, his accent will betray his social origins.

After abandoning his poetry, from 1880 until his death in 1891, Arthur Rimbaud drifts between Yemen and Abyssinia as a shopkeeper, trader, explorer, and arms trafficker.