Five unemployed men in Paris form a tight circle of friends: Jeannot [Jean Gabin], Jacques [Jacques Baumer], Tintin [Raymond Aimos], Charlot [Charles Vanel], and Mario [Raphaël Médina]. Their lives take a sharp turn when Charlot’s wife Gina [Viviane Romance]—a fact only Charlot knows well—remains a shadowy presence among them, while Mario, an illegal immigrant from Spain, has just become engaged to Huguette [Micheline Cheirel]. The sudden windfall of a national lottery prize jolts their routine, igniting a mix of excitement and doubt as they weigh what to do with their newfound wealth.
After long, lively debates led by Jeannot, the group decides to pool the winnings and invest in a dream they can all share. They row up the river Marne to scope out a ruined laundry, envisioning a living, breathing social space: a guinguette, a riverside restaurant and dance hall where work and companionship would fuse into something larger than their individual lives. The plan is ambitious: live on site, work from dawn till dusk, and let their camaraderie grow into something enduring. The project becomes a test of loyalty, trust, and the limits of friendship as personalities clash and bonds deepen.
As the days pass, the group’s dynamic strains under the pressure of money and risk. Tintin, ever the court jester, performs his antics high on the roof, a moment of levity that ends in tragedy when he falls fatally. Jacques, whose presence anchored the early harmony, vanishes with his share, leaving a gap that unsettles everyone. Mario, facing expulsion, makes a rash, final bid for security by marrying Huguette, a decision that ripples through the circle and unsettles loyalties still forming. With these upheavals, Jeannot and Charlot are left to navigate the wreckage of their plans and their relationships—Charlot’s lingering grip on Gina’s affections and the lure of a larger slice of the winnings pulling them in opposing directions.
In the wake of upheaval, the fragile balance among the five men teeters on the edge of fracture. Charlot’s ambitions and Gina’s entanglements pull at the edges of their arrangements, testing whether the dream of the guinguette can survive the temptations of wealth and desire. The narrative unfolds with two possible destinies. In the original pessimistic version, Jeannot’s jealousy erupts, and he shoots Charlot, tearing apart their fragile alliance. In a later, re-shot ending, the film pivots toward optimism, showing the two men choosing friendship over betrayal, uniting against the manipulations of the swirling emotional current around Gina. The result is a story that examines how quickly luck can redraw loyalties, and how quickly fate can swing between tragedy and fellowship, all set against the rustic, sunlit backdrop of a project born from shared dreams and the volatile spark of human desire.
