Jacques Becker's spirited portrait of Left Bank youth immediately following the war is the first film to examine the struggles of a generation that emerged from the war with neither the guilt nor the sadness of their parents, but rather with a feverish desire for action, and a despair at the prospect of a meaningless life. Becker meets his protagonists in their haunts--the streets and nightclubs of Saint-Germaine-des-Pres--and shares with them their passions, in particular that for New Orleans jazz. The story follows five characters--aspiring actors, would-be anthropologists and filmmakers, literateurs and jazz afficionados--their family relationships and their first loves. Within a loose structure, Becker gives his most devastating comment on the smug bourgeois family by siding with its rebellious youth.