[1] It tells the story of a young man who is sent back to France after a sentence for narcotics in the USA and tries to restart his life, but has difficulty relating to his widowed father and suffers the pain of falling in love with a girl who is an addict.

After five years in a US prison for drug dealing, Bruno arrives back in Paris and goes to his father's apartment, his mother having died while he was in jail.

His father is supportive and next night takes him out, but explodes in rage when Bruno asks two prostitutes to their table, saying that it was his fault that his mother died of barbiturates.

When he pays a compulsory visit to a rehabilitation clinic, they suggest a more congenial job in a bookshop that has already taken Catherine, a recovering addict.

Catherine's addiction reaches the point where she voluntarily goes back into hospital and Bruno leaves the bookshop, finding work with a cabinet maker.