Hamou left his native Algeria to make his fortune in Paris. Unfortunately, this is only a chimerical dream because he has difficulty living on expedients in the Barbes district.

Having gone to seek his fortune, or quite simply a good job in France, Hamou, a young Algerian, became, as we see a few years later, only a thug living on petty theft and gambling in the streets of Barbes. and Belleville. Boastful and mythomaniac, he lives in poverty but pretends to be rich towards those he has left behind. To finally seduce the girl he wants, he resorts to the witchcraft of a charlatan. But, contrary to his hopes, love knocks at his door - in the guise of his mother. Clearly understanding her son's situation, she will try, not without difficulty, to bring him back to the country.