Instead of telling the story of a single individual, Ernaux tells the story of a generation—specifically, the women and men who lived through the post-WWII era, the Algerian War, the consumer boom of the 1960s, the sexual revolution of the 1970s, and the digital age of the 2000s. She writes in a unique style, using the French pronoun "on" (one/we) rather than "I." The result is a mosaic of photographs, advertisements, song lyrics, political events, and sensory memories.