The Tunisian born hero of the film decides to break with his disorganized yet habit-ridden life in Paris, and sets off to discover his homeland, which he left at 6 years old, and to rekindle the memory of his mother, who died when he was a child.

Antoine Mouret, an authoritarian restaurateur, is the head of a large family where, for reasons of interest, people only marry cousins. But some have other plans, Marcus especially when he meets a passing circus girl.

Jeanne looks back on her love for Jean. The melancholic young man wouldn't accept the world as it was, always wishing to depart. She doesn't know that he's dead.

François Naulet turns his bedroom into an island of drugs, loneliness and despair.