A Gypsy family and a young orphan drift through the French countryside during World War II and seek work in the vineyards of a small town with laws strictly forbidding their nomadic lifestyle. Subsequently placed in an internment camp, the wayward travelers are quickly rescued by the town's sympathetic mayor, who bestows upon them a plot of land where they can live without fear of harassment. Later, as the Gypsies grow increasingly uncomfortable with the prospect of living in one place, the Gestapo arrests the mayor and a local teacher for resistance. Fearing that they, too, are about to lose their freedom should they decide to remain in town, the Gypsies quickly decide that their best option is to try their luck on the road, and they quietly take flight.