A young man (Philippe Noiret) arrives at a train station to see his wife. After four years of marriage the couple finds difficulty in their marriage as the husband has left there without her. The couple discuss their lives without settling on their current romantic situation. The man takes his wife back to a train without any clear statement on the couple's relationship. Meanwhile, A government official arrives to see if local fishermen in the village are fishing without permits. In the village a child has died and a fisherman is jailed for fishing without a license while a young man has arranged a marriage between him and his sixteen year old girlfriend.