In this complex chronicle of the evolution of a provincial family's life, the story follows three generations of at least two neighboring families from the 1890s to the 1970s. In one of many related tales, a man who was engaged to the older daughter of a farmer elopes with the younger one. After many years and the birth of five children, the man leaves his wife and family for the bright lights of the city but continues turning up from time to time, until he is finally taken into the home of one of his sons when he is a quite old man. The complex interactions of the legitimate and illegitimate children of a womanizing miner give rise to yet another set of related stories.
as Palmyre Blanchard-Lhomme
as MariePaulet-Lhomme
as Leon Gravet
as Charlotte Fourcignie
as Charles Gravet (jeune)
as Jules Ternolain
as Josette Dauchy (jeune)
as François Dauchy (jeune)
as Josette Dauchy (40 ans)
as Charles Gravet (vieux)
as Léone Gravet-Rux
as Julien Gravet III
as Odette Descamps-Gravet
as Pierre Gravet
as Léonore Dauchy (jeune)
as Raoul Lhomme
as Jeanne Vanderberghe
as Jacques Gravet
as Lise Paulet-Dauchy (40 ans)
as Julien Gravet II
as Lucie Fourcignie-Ternolain
as François Dauchy (50 ans)
as Le récitant chanteur (voice)
as Un syndicaliste
as La gouvernante
as Julien Gravet I
as Lucien Gravet
