The protagonist, Aristide, is a good-hearted scam artist who enjoys and deserves the good life. He is out and about in Provence, from Aix to Nimes to Perpignan. Aigues-Mortes was once a flourishing Mediterranean town. St. Louis and his Crusaders sailed thence twice for Palestine; Charles V. and Francis I. met there and filled the place with glittering state. But now its glory has departed.