Convicted for a murder he did not commit, safe-cracker Henri Charrière is sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to hard labor camp. Nicknamed Papillon (“Butterfly”) due to the tattooed image of a thief's emblem on his chest, Henri makes several escape attempts. As punishment, authorities lock him up in solitary confinement for extended periods before transferring him to Devil's Island in French Guiana, surrounded entirely by ocean.

No prisoner had ever escaped from this most dreaded penal colony. Yet nothing can break Henri's spirit or diminish his resolve to regain liberty.