Set entirely among ordinary working people, it tells the story of an unhappily married long-distance lorry driver who starts an affair with a young waitress at a restaurant where he stops frequently, but tragedy intervenes.

Jean is a long-distance lorry driver whose usual run is from Paris, where he lives with his unsympathetic wife and children, to Bordeaux.

A favourite stop is La Caravane, a roadside restaurant where he is attracted to Clo, a pretty and affectionate young woman who is estranged from her family and survives by waitressing.

Anxious to be with him, she gives up her job and goes to Paris, where she finds work as a chambermaid in a sordid hotel used by prostitutes.

Jean meanwhile has been sacked, partly because his tachograph showed too much time spent at La Caravane, and as soon as he finds another job he arranges to take her home in his lorry.