Set in France,
Jean Vigo (Frain) is a college graduate diagnosed with tuberculosis.
He goes to the Pyrenees for treatment and finds a cruel doctor who seems intent on breaking
the will and hope of his patients, thus making them totally dependent on him.
Vigo rebels from this treatment and convinces a fellow patient, Lydu (Bohringer) to escape
with him. The thought of escaping gives her a reason to live again, so she agrees, and the two
get married despite the fact they are not cured and only have limited time to live.
The marriage is soon tested with the pressures of having to take care of one another. This
pressure is intensified with Vigo's chosen profession, film making, which threatens to destroy
them both.