This film follows the fortunes of an old Peugeot off loaded in Cotonou, Benin. As it changes hands we get a glimpse into the lives of its successive owners. Starting with Simon living the sheltered life of an overseas development worker, his cook Joseph, who milks the car as an illegal taxi and the garage mechanics who try to breathe new life into it everytime it breaks down. Then one day the car is left for junk by the roadside. A smithy and sculptor named Simonet salvages bits and pieces to produce the figure Agbo the voodoo god of "night watchman� a task set him by the wise men of the hamlet of Quassa. After along journey in a dugout conoe through the lagoons of Benin, the sculpture assumes its role as the protecting fetish of the people of Quassa.