Driven by necessity, Jean Larcher, a young agricultural engineer, accepts the degrading mission of leading to ruin, under cover of administering it, a huge cocoa plantation on the island of São Tomé. His employers, a financial coalition, indeed plan to dispossess its owner, an inexperienced young woman who has just inherited it, of her property. But when Jean comes into contact with her, he recognizes Francesca, a girl he had fond feelings for when he was a student.