Edith Piaf was raised in a brothel, wrested from the only life she knew by her father so they could join the circus, Edith spent her teen years on the streets. She is finally "rescued" by a crime figure who gives her career a start, and, ultimately, her international success and final illness. She was always frail, sickly, malnourished, and wildly temperamental. She was often on drugs or alcohol, and she was always in search of true love. Middleweight boxer, Marcel Cerdan, captures her heart and gives her something to live for, besides her music--at least for a while.