François Bouton ,a widower,has a daughter ,Ninette,Angélique has a son, Pimpin .The woman is selfish ,she sends her brat in the stairs when François comes to woo her , but François is meek and mild and he wants to reconstitute a family .Soon after their wedding, Angélique runs away with another man .A starving Pimpin knocks on François's door ;the good man welcomes him .Both children grow up together ,without a mother,under their father's watchful eye.Ninette ,now a pretty young girl ,wants to marry a scientist and to leave France for Asia.