Having left the inland regions, a group of young people from Niger moves to the Ivory Coast in search of work. They arrive in Abidjan, in the popular district of Treichville, where they feel the contact with modern society causes them to lose their roots. The story is told by the protagonist, who calls himself Edward G. Robinson after the famous American actor. His friends also take on pseudonyms which gradually outline an ideal personality for each of them. Rouch takes an insight into their lives, mixing fiction with reality, by playing on the dialectic contrast between the real individual and the character he is impersonating. This film was awarded the Delluc Prize in 1959.