Love for a beautiful woman draws a gangster out of hiding.

Pepe is a notorious French criminal, wanted by the police, especially by Inspector Slimane. He is in hiding in the Casbah, the Arab quarter of Algiers, where he is safe so long as he stays there, although he yearns to return to France. Pepe rules his small gang, composed principally of Carlos, Max and Jimmy, and the benevolent figure of Grand Pere, the fence. He is loved by women, in particular by Ines, a gypsy, and is feared and admired by all. Just after a police raid fails yet again to arrest him, he meets and falls in love with beautiful Parisian demi-mondaine Gaby, as she visits the Casbah with her rich friends, in search of exotic thrills. She soon intensifies his nostalgia for Paris, and Pepe later becomes undone, when he is tempted out of hiding by Gaby.