在这部苦儿流浪记片中,雷米是一个弃儿， 从小由一个石匠的妻子抚养。他八岁那年，石匠受伤残废，失去了工作。石匠把他卖给一个流浪的卖艺人，从此他和卖艺人带了几只小动物到处流浪。这个卖艺人是个善良的老人，他待雷米很好，教他读书弹琴。老艺人在一次卖艺中，不幸被警察扭送入监狱。出狱后，老艺人又不幸冻死。雷米被一个花匠救去。后来，花匠因一次天灾，花房全部损坏，还不起债，也被送进监狱。雷米只得又去流浪。他遇到许多困难，毫不灰心，最后找到了生身的母亲。
Remi's quiet childhood in chevegnon is interrupted one day as his father comes home after 7 years in Paris, telling him they're not his real parents, and that they can no longer afford to keep him. He is being sold to a travelling circus master, thus starting a journey across lovely French countryside, in the end of which he'll find his biological family, and a few other things.
