Damp walls, people breathing side by side, and the smell of despair mingled with dampness. Jean Renoir sets his camera on the lowest rung of the social hierarchy, in the dim boarding houses of the muddy streets. In this quagmire, the paths of a baron who has lost his title and a thief who lives by his own rules cross. People from two different worlds forge a friendship that breaks down class barriers on the common ground of misery.\n\nIn this spiral of crime and drama, which bears the hallmarks of the naturalist movement, Renoir examines the human instinct for survival. As the characters are crushed under the exploitation of their ruthless landlord, the boarding house’s gloomy atmosphere drives each of them into a separate dead end. Though the hope for freedom is revived by a pure love blossoming in the dim light of the dilapidated rooms, the dark shadow of the past lies in wait at every moment.