A legend about the Malveneur family tells of how their ancestor sold his soul to the devil and was cursed: man by day, wolf by night. The last of the Malveneurs is a scientist who carries out strange experiments on... nobody knows exactly what the does in the underground. The wife has a heart condition, her sister-in-law is a authoritarian lady. And nights in the old castle are not exactly peaceful.
Peter Simon, a famous American writer, deserts his girlfriend Eva to live incognito at a small Normandy inn. Eva shams her own murder for revenge. Meanwhile, a young reporter, Françoise, has tracked Peter down. The news of the crime quickly spreads and, believing Peter to be the murderer, the village is in an uproar. Despite misadventures galore, everything turns out right and Peter takes Françoise on their honeymoon.
Inès, a gypsy, pregnant by a rich breeder who abandoned her, finds refuge with a band of smugglers and thieves, led by an old woman nicknamed "the Spider". It is among them that she raises her daughter, Dolores. But her past catches up with her when the wealthy landlord reappears in her life.
