In "Le Sauvage," Nelly (Catherine Deneuve), a young Frenchwoman fleeing her hot-tempered Italian fiancé, checks into a hotel in Caracas and steals a valuable painting to collect money from her former employer, Alex (Tony Roberts). Martin (Yves Montand), a middle-aged Frenchman living on a desert island in the Caribbean, becomes embroiled in Nelly's life when she arrives at his home. As they argue over their future together, Vittorio (Luigi Vannucchi) and Alex pursue them, leading to a series of madcap events that take Martin and Nelly to various exotic locations.