The film tells the tragic story of a neglected young girl who is befriended by an innocent, but psychologically damaged, veteran of the French Indochina War.

Bourguignon wrote the screenplay with Antoine Tudal, and he and Bernard Eschasseriaux [fr], the author of the novel upon which the film is based, are credited with the dialogue.

One evening while waiting for Madeleine in the subway, Pierre is approached by a man who asks for directions to St. Marguerite's boarding school, where he is taking his 11-year-old daughter, though she does not want to go.

Sorry for the girl, but also feeling a kinship with another lost soul, Pierre agrees to the plan, and they begin to spend their Sundays in the park.

Madeleine works on Sundays, and Pierre does not tell her about his relationship with the girl, but other locals begin to take note of the odd pair.

Serge Bourguignon and writer Antoine Tudal make uncredited cameo appearances in the film as, respectively, the man on the horse and the painter in the park.