Cayeux is a small seaside town boasting a large pebble beach. In winter, it’s as deserted as the moon. In summer, however, crowds of holiday-makers and regulars frequent the beach and its colourful huts, lending a much more festive air to the place. At one end of the beach, there’s a pebble processing plant where Marie, a pretty young woman, works. Her boyfriend, Paul, works there, too, in the winter; in the summer, he’s a lifeguard. Mundane Paul is worried about his mother, Rose, who fritters away her money in slot machines, and doesn’t understand Marie’s dreamy temperament. Unfulfilled by Paul’s ham-fisted version of love, Marie looks to the holiday visitors she encounters season after season as a reminder that her youthful dreams lie elsewhere. Albert, a young executive with a fancy sports car, has just been sacked at the plant. To Marie he seems just the Prince Charming to carry her off and make her dreams come true.