La Rivière Espérance is a French TV series, 9 episodes of 90 minutes each, directed by Josée Dayan based on the novel by Christian Signol and shown in 1995 on France 2.
1832, Périgord : Benjamin and Marie are two childhood friends. Benjamin's father is a merchant sailor on the river Dordogne.
One day he says to his son: « When you're 13, I'll take you with me. » He keeps his promise and Benjamin becomes a sailor like his father. But in that circle, you have to be wary of everybody and of what they live for: the Dordogne.
Doing that job was Benjamin's dream, but could that dream become a nightmare? Fights with merchants and sailors sometimes finish off quite uglily. Will he be able to stay loyal to his friend Marie, or will his nightly 'rendez-vous' with Emeline Lombard, daughter of the rich merchant on whom they depend, separate them?