For some, misfortune does not need the test of time. It is the case of three-year-old Marcelle Monfort who sees her mother die suddenly in a public garden while her ruined father is on his way to America. Taken in by Madame Jalin, a washerwoman, Marcelle grows up enduring the jealousy of Louise, Madame Jalin's daughter. Having had enough of the situation Marcelle leaves home and soon gets ill. Fortunately, she benefits for a time from Mademoiselle de Beaurenon's compassionate support. But her troubles are not over yet, for her benefactor dies and she is kicked out of home by the good lady's greedy relatives who think they are her heirs. Rose, the old domestic, takes care of Marcelle until, at long last, luck takes a turn for the better. Not only does her father come back from the USA but Madame de Beaurenon also leaves her all her assets.

Luc Froment, a reform-minded engineer, starts working at a steel mill in a small town. There he founds small groups of workers (and their families) under miserable conditions. Under the influence of Fourier's ideas, Froment tries to turn the mill into a workers' co-operative.