In the French countryside at the beginning of the 20th century, Raboliot, who gets his name from looking like a burrowing rabbit, is a small-time poacher who loves and lives for freedom. Married with two children but traumatised by the war, it is only when he is out hunting at night that he feels really free and happy. But these escapades do not please the local policeman, Sommedieu, who is set on putting an end to them.