In this astonishing twelve-part project for and about television — the title of which refers to a 19th-century French primer Le tour de la France par deux enfants — Godard and Miéville take a detour through the everyday lives of two children in contemporary France.
André Fragman, nicknamed "Fairbanks" after his childhood idol by his film projectionist father, returns home from military service. He meets and falls in love with Marie, an aspiring actress who is rehearsing for a stage production of 'Alice in Wonderland'. All his attempts to find a job and a way out end up in failure, his friends Étienne and Jean-Pierre are powerless to help him, and the dreamy yet desperate hero loses his mind.
Henri Serin (Jean-Pierre Marielle), an umbrella salesman, leads a quiet life between his work, his family and his passion for painting. During his many business trips, Henri indulges in a few amorous escapades, which provide a welcome change from the tiresome daily routine his bigoted wife locks him into. One fine day, Henri decides to drop everything and live on love and fresh water. He ends up in Pont-Aven, where he meets Émile, a local painter imitating Gauguin, with whom he shares his drinking and other feminine attractions.
A young peasant named Pierre makes friends with John and his sister Sonia, young bourgeoisie, who invite him to their home. Pierre soon falls in love with Emily, John's mistress. After the death of the father of his hosts, he has the idea of transforming their peaceful house into a brothel.
A fictionalized report from the Côte d'Azur. Preparing for vacation (diet and artificial tanning). The vacation route (a hitchhiker has her luggage stolen by a motorist; hitchhikers steal, rape and leave in their victims' cars...). "Dolce vita" in Saint-Tropez. The art of spending a vacation with a minimum of money (prostitution, cheating at gambling, pussies kept by old ladies...). Naturists on the Ile du Levant. Vacation club romance. Drugs (a girl gets stung and falls into a coma next to her friend, already dead). The end of a vacation (a young woman, ruined by her stay on the Riviera, indulges for a day in slaughterhouse prostitution to pay for her return).
Young doctor Garondet is summoned by renowned Professor Orloff. At Orloff's castle, Garondet discovers that the mad scientist has created an invisible yet murderous apeman.