Charlie (Charles Aznavour) is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie's brothers, Richard (Jean-Jacques Aslanian) and Chico (Albert Remy), surface and ask for Charlie's help while on the run from gangsters they have scammed, he aids their escape. Soon Charlie and Lena (Marie Dubois), a waitress at the same bar, face trouble when the gangsters (Claude Mansard, Daniel Boulanger) arrive, looking for his brothers.