Marius plot
'Bar de la Marine' in the Old Port of Marseille is run by César and his son Marius. Marius' big dream is to board one of the boats that glide past in front of the bar and sail off to distant lands. Fanny, young and beautiful, sells shells for the bar and secretly loves Marius from childhood. And Marius, without admitting it, has always loved Fanny. In order not to lose Marius, Fanny declares her love to him before he sets out on a voyage of discovery in a ship. But this causes a quarrel between Marius and an old friend of César, the master sailmaker Panisse, who, despite his advanced age, courts Fanny. Dragged back and forth between the lure of the sea and his love for Fanny, Marius must now make a difficult choice.