Directed by Louis Feuillade.

Luc Froment, a reform-minded engineer, starts working at a steel mill in a small town. There he founds small groups of workers (and their families) under miserable conditions. Under the influence of Fourier's ideas, Froment tries to turn the mill into a workers' co-operative.

After falling in love with a young man (Edouard Mathé), Lilie/Lily abandoned her family and eloped, only to comes back with an illegitimate child.

Two small girls whose father is in prison are collected by their grandfather after losing their mother in a shipwreck.