Marcel Marx, a famous bohemian writer, has voluntarily gone into exile and settled in the port city of Le Havre, where he lives working as a shoe shiner. Having given up his literary ambitions, his life unfolds smoothly between the corner bar, his job and his wife Arletty, until he meets an immigrant boy. This encounter will lead him to fight against the harsh mechanisms of the State through optimism and the unconditional solidarity of his neighbours in the neighbourhood.

Synopsis written by the Young Programmers group.