The film follows William, thirty-ish, out of work and looking for a new life after apparently having been thrown out of his previous one. He meets up with Noelle, who seems intrigued by his restlessness - until her economist boyfriend shows up. Yet plot details do little to convey the power of the film, which lay in its capturing the anarchic texture of William's life - a life whose lack of direction was read as a rebuke of the Swiss myth of orderliness and self-satisfaction. With his roots in documentary, Soutter excelled at creating a loose, vibrant cinema, full of quick zooms and dynamic hand-held shots, with dialogue that often alternated between outright quotations and stylized interviews.

William mène une vie volontairement en marge, en travaillant dans un bowling et subsistant de petits larcins, ce qu’il cache à Noëlle, une fille de bonne famille, avec laquelle il engage une relation malgré tout ce qui les sépare. La jeune femme est épiée par un apprenti policier, dont elle refuse les avances. William affronte son rival et chasse Noëlle, chacun reprenant sa vie.