Jean is a ten-year-old boy who runs away from boarding school because he thinks he is the cause of his parents' marital breakup. A famous opera singer offers him shelter in her home.

The widow of a soldier in the 1914-1918 war, running an inn called "Au rendez-vous des veterans", is happy to see her daughter in love with an officer whose father was once in love with La Madelon.

Les Berceaux is about the dedicated sailors who venture out into the deepest ocean, and the wives who must await their return. The woman sits in her living room, gently rocking her infant’s cradle as she sings, the movement mimicking the rolling motion of the ocean waves. Many men will lose their lives to the ocean’s vast waters, but the juxtaposition of death and life (in the cradle) suggests an endless and noble cycle. Kirsanoff imaginatively places a rear-projection screen outside the woman’s window, through which, as she sings, we can watch the ocean waves lapping up against the shore, or the ship charging majestically over the water. Also worth noting is that the film was photographed by Boris Kaufman, who later also shot On the Waterfront (1954) and 12 Angry Men (1957). —Shortcutcinema.blogspot.pt