Michel is an unemployed young man living in Paris. His The Mother is sickly, and his friends Jacques and Jeanne try to help him; Jacques finds him several jobs, but Michel considers them beneath him. He also has a distant relationship with his mother and frequently makes up excuses to avoid visiting her, despite his friends’ entreaties.
Michel steals money from a spectator at Longchamp Racecourse. To his surprise, the police arrest him, but Jean Pélégri (the chief inspector) is forced to release him for lack of proof.
At a bar, Michel asks Jacques for help finding a job. Jacques is skeptical, but agrees to help. Coincidentally, the chief inspector is also at the bar. Michel comes to life and subtly gloats to the inspector about his escape. Like Dostoyevsky’s Raskolnikov, he asserts that superior men should not be bound by the same laws as everyone else.
One day, Michel finds himself drawn to the graceful movements of a subway pickpocket. Michel tries to copy the pickpocket’s technique. After some early successes, he proudly tells Jacques he no longer needs a job. However, he is caught after a week, and is forced to lie low for a few days. He sees a mysterious man lurking outside his flat. Although Jacques and Jeanne ask him to visit his mother, who is very ill, Michel pursues the man, a pickpocket proposing a profitable partnership.
Michel’s focus on crime damages his relationship with his family and friends. He goes to a carnival with Jacques and Jeanne, but leaves to steal a man’s watch. Later, he resentfully questions Jacques about whether he is in love with Jeanne. In addition, he neglects to visit his mother until she is on her deathbed; she kindly tells him that he has enough talent to succeed in life “whenever you want.” After she dies, Michel and Jeanne argue about whether she will go to heaven. Michel asserts that moral rules do not exist. Jeanne asks Michel whether he believes in anything. Michel responds, > I believed in God—for three minutes.
Michel’s two accomplices are arrested. Although Michel escapes, the chief inspector visits his flat as a warning. The inspector explains that while he hoped Michel would go straight after the close call at Longchamp, he no longer believes Michel will change. He adds that a month before Michel was arrested at the racetrack, Jeanne filed a police report saying that someone had stolen money from Michel’s mother. However, the report was withdrawn the next day. He does not say who withdrew the complaint, but implies he knows Michel was the thief. After a conversation with Jeanne, Michel realizes that his mother withdrew the complaint, meaning that his mother knew her son stole from her. Jeanne is appalled, but tearfully hugs him.
To avoid the police, Michel flees to London, where he resumes pickpocketing. Two years later, he returns to Paris, having wasted all of his ill-gotten gains on gambling and women. He visits Jeanne and learns that while she had a child with Jacques, she decided to be a single mother because she did not love Jacques. Michel agrees to get an honest job to support the child, but his temptations remain.
One day, Michel finds himself following a racing enthusiast to Longchamp. Although Michel suspects a setup, he cannot resist stealing from him. As it turns out, the man is a plainclothes officer conducting a sting operation. This time, the police actually send Michel to jail.
Jeanne dutifully visits Michel in jail every week, but when she skips three straight weeks, Michel finds himself pained by her absence. She visits the following week, and Michel kisses her. Michel remarks to himself, “Oh, Jeanne, what a strange path I had to take to reach you at last.”
