Set in the French countryside in the 1600s, a lone rider deposits a newborn baby boy on the steps of a monastery, having bitten his nose off. The child is bought up by an ex-pirate and his wife and is taught to read, write, count, joust and fence, and is also given a wooden nose. However, he is ordered by a local baron to attend a tough seminary, but he soon rebels and makes an action-packed escape...

Stephen, an international trader, tracks down his ex-wife Patricia in some Amazonian backwater. He needs her consent to a divorce so that he can marry Charlotte. Unfortunately, he discovers a son he didn’t know he had – Mimi-Siku. The young jungle boy yearns to see Paris so Stephen reluctantly agrees to take him back home with him for a few days. How will Mimi-Siku react to life in the great metropolis?

Dominique Pinon talks to the camera describing his likes and dislikes, ranging from the simple such as "I hate men with a beard but no moustache" to the more touching, "I like to think that after death can't be worse than before birth." Each of his examples is accompanied by a visual demonstration.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet reused this technique in his 2001 flim Amélie when introducing the characters.