Albert Quentin [Jean Gabin] runs a small hotel on the Normandy coast, sharing a life of routine with his dutiful yet unimaginative wife Suzanne Quentin [Suzanne Flon]. A former marine who saw action in China, he has grown bored with the quiet cycle of days and nights and has turned to drink as a way to fill the void. In June 1944, during a harrowing Allied air raid, he finds his courage ashore in the shelter of their cellar, comforting his frightened wife and promising that if their hotel survives the bombardment, he will give up the bottle for good.
Fifteen years of sobriety follow, but the spark of excitement remains missing from their days, leaving him and Suzanne more bored than ever. On a cold winter night, a nervous young man named Gabriel Fouquet [Jean-Paul Belmondo] checks into the hotel. Gabriel heads over to Esnault’s bar, where M. Esnault [André Dalibert] keeps the drinks flowing, rings his wife who has left for Madrid, and ends up thoroughly drunk. Albert, rising from his own routine to help, brings the stranger inside, offers him a bed, and the two men begin an uneasy and uneasy‑allied bond.
Both men retreat into vivid dream worlds that stand in stark contrast to their ordinary lives. Albert relives and enlarges memories of his China days, enriching them with danger and wonder, while Gabriel imagines himself as a symbol of Spanish machismo—dancing flamenco, facing bulls, and embodying a reckless bravado he craves but rarely dares to claim.
The morning after, Gabriel buys a sweater for a ten‑year‑old girl from the eccentric shopkeeper M. Landru [Noël Roquevert], and then visits the convent where his daughter Marie Fouquet [Sylviane Margollé] is a boarding student. Too jittery to face her directly, he recoils when she is summoned. Albert and Suzanne try to offer kindness in their own ways, but Gabriel’s struggles with his drink and the chaos around him persist, pulling him into further turmoil.
One fateful night, Albert gives in to drink once more and the two men drift into a heavy, roaring intoxication. They return to Esnault’s bar, ignite a confrontation, and cajole Landru into triggering a sequence of fireworks along the beach. In a misguided bid to reclaim control, they force their way into the convent to abduct Marie, only to be met by the head nun in a wheelchair, who steadfastly refuses and declares that Marie will be released at ten the next morning. Gabriel gathers his daughter, and the pair board a Paris train, joined by a chastened Albert, who has once again renounced alcohol and plans to visit his father’s grave inland.
As they travel, Albert speaks to Marie in a way that blends memory and whimsy. He describes a strange China tale in which winter brings monkeys into towns, and the people assemble a train to carry them back to their native forests. This odd image accompanies his resolve as he steps off the journey in Lisieux, choosing to face his own long winter and the uncertain road that lies ahead.
