A poor peasant family, a failed cabinet maker and an unemployed worker struggle in contrast to crooked rich businessmen. nearby.A Communist meeting gives young workers hope for a better future.
In the village of Sableuse, the local manor has been bought out by a nouveau riche, Emile Cousinet. When his wife Lisette, a former music hall actress, flees to Paris with young Pierre de Sableuse, Cousinet asks Father Pellegrin, the village vicar, to bring the lost sheep back home.
Reflecting the filmmaker's passion for automobiles, who in his youth participated in car races, the film portrays the attempt to manufacture a new model in the Ford factory in the city of Porto.