North Africa, December 1942. Valentin, a professional gardener ruined by the bombings of 1940, has fled to Tunis, where he traffics stolen goods, transporting them from Libya to Tunisia on an old boat.
An American traveling in Europe suddenly disappears, and his daughter, married to an eminent scientist, receives a letter asking her to go to Antwerp, which she does with her young son. Both are about to disappear. OSS 117 is asked by his superiors to solve these mysterious disappearances.