At the Opera of Toulon, the cast and crew hoping to put on a Satanism / human sacrifice-themed ballet entitled “La malédiction de Belphégor” soon find their numbers dwindling.
Maroîs, the fairground bon vivant, spends most of his time around a bottle of wine, in the company of his friend Michaux, with whom he was once a sailor. He neglects his wife Monique, a pretty girl much younger than himself. Suffering from this indifference, she seeks imperfect and fleeting...
A crime is committed in a circus during the performance of a sketch between two clowns. One of them is killed. They accuse the other, Sylvia's fiancé, to whom the victim was courting. After many twists and turns, the murderer is discovered to be the troupe's dwarf.
