A Parisian sewer worker longs for a rise in status and a beautiful wife. He rescues a girl from the police, lives with her in a barren flat on the seventh floor, and then marches away to war.

Simone Simon
as Diane

James Stewart
as Chico

Jean Hersholt
as Father Chevillon

Gregory Ratoff
as Boul the Cab Driver

Gale Sondergaard
as Nana, Diane's Sister

J. Edward Bromberg
as Aristide the Astrologer

John Qualen
as Sewer Rat

Victor Kilian
as Gobin

Thomas Beck
as Brissac

Sig Ruman
as Durand (as Sig Rumann)