A psychological drama that details the tormented relationship between Marie and her mother, stemming from Marie's childhood on their estate in Algeria. The mother, Eliane had lost a child before Marie was born and was consumed with hatred for her husband who was carrying tuberculosis and may have been the cause of the child's death. That hatred was never resolved, and Marie grew up in a bitter and strained household. As both women grow older, Marie marries and raises a family while her mother sinks ever deeper into anger, frustration, poverty, and isolated despair. She vents her destructive emotions on her daughter and is completely resistant to her daughter's attempts to help her, to make her life better.

A young, loving couple and their two children travel around the French countryside with an old-fashioned carousel in tow, setting it up in small towns and fairgrounds to earn a living. They are happy, supportive, and free-spirited, yet as time goes by, life on the road becomes more difficult -- it can be boring, and the family is sometimes eyed with distrust by the more conservative provincials and by the police. As the family begins to feel the effects of these aloof attitudes, their solidity is invaded by cracks and chinks until they are well on their way to losing their once-happy union. At that point, one of the children has a bad accident, causing the family members intense anxiety, and as a result, the perspective on their differences starts to change.

A woman on the brink of middle age becomes bored and takes up playing cards. She becomes hooked on gambling and begins to neglect her husband and children.