Louis, a nine-year-old boy from Paris, spends his summer vacation in a small town in Brittany. His mother Claire has lodged him with her girlfriend Marcelle and her husband Pelo while she's having her second baby. There Louis makes friends with Martine, the ten-year- old girl next door, and learns from her about life.
In 1842, during the conquest of Algeria Sidonie Panache disguised as a Soave runs away with her lover who is doing his military service there.
To come into possession of an inheritance, a young woman must marry a man she does not love and who does not love her either. But he falls in love and manages to conquer his wife by becoming a totally different character from the one he was at the time of the wedding.
