Chouchou, a young North African, passes himself off as a Chilean exile fleeing the dictatorship to illegally enter France.
He is taken in by Father Leon, responsible for a parish in a Parisian suburb.
Although Chouchou’s real identity is quickly found out, Father Leon bears him no ill will and even scores him a receptionist and cleaning job with a psychoanalyst, Nicole Milovavich.
Divided between his stormy living situation with Brother Jean and his work, Chouchou gets caught up in a fantastic world totally new to him. Little by little, he begins to fit in and even starts making breakthroughs. He goes to Paris’s Clichy neighborhood in search of his nephew and finds him in a cabaret, The Apocalypse, where he is a torch singer called Vanessa. Chouchou rejoices, because he is also occasionally a transvestite, and soon he is one of the gang.
He meets Stanislas, a regular client of The Apocalypse, and it’s love at first sight.
Chouchou basks in happiness until the day Lieutenant Grégoire appears on the scene. A patient of Doctor Milovavich, the cop has some peculiar behavior problems. Chouchou’s daily life is turned upside down and the fairy tale he’s been living comes under threat.