Marcel Marx, a lover of life and man of letters, lives modestly in Le Havre with his wife Arletty and dog Laïka. He makes a meagre living as a shoeshine man. As he’s walking through the harbour one day, he finds young Idrissa hiding from the police. Idrissa is from Gabon and has arrived at the French port illegally, hidden in a shipping container. On the spur of the moment, Marcel decides to help the young refugee make his way to London, where his mother is waiting for him. He gets some help from neighbourhood friends and a warm-hearted policeman. With a keen eye for reality, expressed in documentary footage of the authorities clearing out one of the “jungle” refugee and migrant camps near Calais, Aki Kaurismäki used nostalgic images and songs to evoke the solidarity among society’s weak and marginalised.