The Solitary Conquerors

Jean Berthillot and his wife Anne-Marie settle in Guinea. He is a primary-school teacher, fully occupied with his job. Anne-Marie is bored and has the pain of seeing their baby die. Depressed, she tries to hold on to an engineer, Carlier, whom she met when she first arrived in the country. She won't leave with him, but the disagreement between the couple is growing. Convinced that he is leading the best life, Jean does nothing to keep his wife. It's up to the natives to reconcile them and help the young woman share her husband's ideal.

For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.

Maxime de Champcey, a bankrupt marquis, is hired by the wealthy Laroque and falls for his daughter Marguerite. She loves him too but rejects him under the belief he's a fortune hunter.

Out of love for an actress, Isabelle, the Baron de Sigognac joins a traveling troop en route to Paris. When an actor dies, he takes over his role: that of Captain Fracasse.

A few colorful characters, with very different social origins and whose destinies are not always glorious, will parade before our eyes, for our greatest pleasure. Turning among characters such as : an alcoholic bum, a rich banker, an eccentric old lady, a working class girl, a poor lover, and a hypocritical bourgeois.

Toledo, 1825. To save her fiancé, an opponent of the regime, the beautiful Inès agrees to marry the chief of police.