In an isolated community on a mythical island, a pompous dictator holds public executions and lets criminals fight in the streets.

When his uncle Paul died, Lucien Berlemont inherited a telescope and a sextant, which only aggravated his aversion to the high seas. At the age of 20, he began taking clandestine navigation courses. During his vacations in St-Lunac, even Mr. Dumesnil's daughters struggled to distract him from his marine reveries. But one evening, he inadvertently finds himself locked up with Marie-Angeline; the consequences of this prolonged evening force him to make a decision and commit himself, for better or for worse, to one of the Dumesnil girls.

On a Christmas night, an ex-convict meets a beautiful Italian married woman who has got a lot of things to hide.