A man escapes from prison, and leads in his run the woman of his life.

Madeleine, who runs a disco on the French-Swiss border, dreams of going to Paris to pursue a singing career. Her lover, Paul, who makes his living smuggling money, gold and goods across the border, plans to emigrate to Canada. Mali, a pretty young Algerian woman who lives in France and works in Switzerland, would like to be anywhere except where she is. Louis, born on a Swiss farm and trained as a clockmaker, would give anything to leave his mistress, Lucie, and move in with Mali.

Although there are women in the lives of the three main protagonists -- a middle-aged architect, his construction designer, and a journalist -- the women are not as crucial to the men's search for an identity as the title might suggest. When the three men run into a former professor of the architect and designer, they are inspired by his fanfare and expansive nature. Still in search of solutions to their particular problems, the men head out to visit the professor and get to the bottom of their own issues. Unfortunately, the professor turns out to be more "loco" than otherwise, and the three men watch their hopes burst like a popped balloon -- it seems like their ability to assess human character should now be added to their list of problem spots.

A look at the sexual and professional lives of three people — a television director, his ex-girlfriend, and a sex worker.