In 1942, in Paris, which was seized by Germany, a grocer Edmond Batignole (Gérard Jugnot) is living with his family in his grocery building. He has a daughter who is soon to be married. His future son-in-law, Pierre-Jean (Jean-Paul Rouve) and his wife wanted the apartment owned by a Jewish family. When the property of all the Jews was confiscated the Batignole family got the apartment. The Jewish family was sent to transportation to Germany. After the Batignoles had occupied the apartment the Batignoles organise a party for the SS officials and during that party young Simon Bernstein (Jules Sitruk) of the Jewish family who had escaped from the Germans, returns to his home. Edmond Batignole feels sorry for the boy and hides him in the apartment from his family before anyone else could see him. Soon Simon's cousins meet him in the cellar of the grocery and the grocer plans to smuggle the children over the border to Switzerland. Edmond takes the dangerous trip to the border, where he and the children are nearly caught by the police. However, with the help of a kind woman and a priest, they are able to sneak over the border to safety in Switzerland.