César (Charles Boyer) is a barkeeper in Marseille in the early 1920s. His 19-year-old son Marius (Horst Buchholz) works for him at his bar, but wants nothing more than to go to sea and leave his boring existence behind. The only thing holding him back is Fanny (Leslie Caron), an 18-year-old girl with whom he grew up. Fanny works selling fish with her mother down at the waterfront. Fanny has been in love with Marius her whole life, and flirts with him, but Marius always rejects her.