In order to observe the human subjects in the wild and under controlled situations, the aliens pluck two strangers, a man and a woman, from a forest and drop them -- naked -- into a clear cage suspended in darkness. Exhibit A is painter Agathe, whose volcanic temper is offset by the confused brooding of Exhibit B, musician Bertrand. As the narrator speculates on the uses of everyday objects, including toilets, chickens and felt-tipped pens, one of each item is obligingly dropped into the cell to see what the humans will do with it. Meanwhile, Exhibit A and B’s respective spouses, Donatien and Ursuline, meet and soon begin an uneasy cohabitation observed in all its messy confusion by the unseen alien lensers.