Jérôme Crainquebille, is an ageing vegetable seller who has sold groceries from his cart in in Paris for over 40 years. One day, he is harassed by a policeman who insists that he moves on. When he protests, Crainquebille is arrested, supposedly for swearing at the policeman.
The suffering and rebellion of 12-year-old François Lepic, nicknamed "Carrot Top" by his mother, who hates him. Occupied with the council elections, his father appears unaware that the young boy is increasingly tempted by suicide.
An adaptation of the first part of Balzac's History of the Thirteen, centered on the secret society of the Thirteen and helmed by René Navarre in the titular role of the former convict who became a sublime father.
