1982. The new French government announces the largest architecture competition ever held. Coveted by the big firms, the winner is, surprisingly, a complete unknown: Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, a Danish architecture professor who until then had only built his own house and three small chapels. Suddenly, he is propelled at the helm of a pharaonic project: the construction of the Great Arch of La Défense in Paris. ‘Spreck’ soon discovers that, to preserve his vision, he will have to play along with the political game. The real battle between art and power begins.