Columbia France

North Africa, December 1942. Valentin, a professional gardener ruined by the bombings of 1940, has fled to Tunis, where he traffics stolen goods, transporting them from Libya to Tunisia on an old boat.

Louise lives alone and seems to like it that way. She has been through a divorce and the recent death of her mother. Recently, she has moved to Annecy, a moderate-sized city, to take work as a schoolteacher. She encounters a much younger man, Luigi, an Italian who is down on his luck. Though he moved to France to find work, he was robbed of his money and papers and is stranded. When he helps her bury her dogs, which her neighbour has poisoned for barking, their relationship grows to a new level.

When Marc, with the help of a juvenile court judge, is old enough to leave thewelfare system, he leaves mainland France for French Guiana to try and find the only relative he knows, his grandfather, who was deported to the penal colony of this French overseas territory. During his odyssey, he meets Françoise, a young woman with whom he falls in love, and experiences many adventures.