The film tells the semi-fictional story of Henri Charrière, a prisoner in French Guyana's penal system, including the notorious Devil's Island, in the early 1930s. Charrière, known as Papillon due to his butterfly tattoo, and Louis Dega, a wealthy counterfeiter, form an unlikely friendship and business partnership.

Papillon
In the 1930s, a French convict forms an unlikely bond with a fellow inmate on the notorious Devil's Island, a South American penal colony, and together they devise a daring plan to break free from their confinement.