Claudie, a young French woman, inherits her uncle's property in Algeria, much to the disappointment of her scheming cousins Diane and Manuel. On the ferry she meets and falls for Pierre, an idle young man who has squandered his inheritance and is on his way to beg from Christian, his rich but rough-and-ready uncle, who owns a neighbouring farm to Claudie's. Made to work on the farm by Christian as a loan condition, Pierre is soon a changed man, and proposes to Claudie. But when his Arab friend Zoubir invites the Europeans on a hunting party, Diane and Manuel see their chance to move against their cousin.

该片以回忆的方式记叙了一个忧郁的巴黎青年人努力寻找现代大都市生活的意义和生命的故事。他在宗教，政治中找不到幸福和生活的理由，甚至在他自己身上也找不到。于是他把时间花在两个女人的身上，希望这样能够永久联系在一起。