Marcel, whose only happiness is to make the scarecrow in the middle of the fields to attract birds on him, leaves the family farm the day before his mother's wedding with the undertaker in his village. Popov, a black Russian - that is to say a Russian of African origin - serves as a handyman in the little circus of his seven brothers, on a European tour. It is him, the simple spirit of the family, who cleans the cages, feeds the animals and takes care of the dirty work. On the evening of their last Parisian performance, left in search of an eagle escaped from its cage, it misses the departure of the circus for Italy and is forced to cross France to join its brothers in Venice.