The First Man begins with Jacques Cormery looking information about his father, Henri. He doesn’t remember him, as Henri died when he was an infant, though Jacques still wishes to know everything about his roots, which is why he goes searching. Jacques lives in Paris and decides to visit his father’s grave which is in a city nearby. There he realizes that his father died before he turned thirty. Jacques, being an elderly man himself, realizes how short a life his father lived.
He then goes to Algeria, visiting his mother who still lives there. On his way there, his childhood is explained in a series of flashbacks. Jacques mother, Lucie, is both mute and deaf, and lived together with her own mother as Jacques grew up. They all lived in poverty, but with dignity, and Jacques managed to be a good student, thus letting him have a good life.
When he arrives at home, his mother tells him that she doesn’t remember anything about his father, as it was such a long time ago and she has become an old woman. Suddenly, terrorists attack, and he comforts his mother while some bombs explode close by. He continues his search for information about his father in the city, though no one recognizes the name of his father. Retuning back to Paris, he becomes successful and understands that everything he has gone through has made him what he is today: The First Man.
