Based on a novel by Jacques Deval, "Marie Galante" is a French musical play composed in 1934, that follows a poor, young, Bordelaise who turns to prostitution as a means of survival. She is abducted onto a cargo-steamer bound for South America, and she is abandoned in Venezuela. Marie sells her body to get to Panama, where she lives in the red-light district in order to raise enough money to buy a ticket back to France (she charges two dollars--a detail that survives even in the music lyrics). She can think of nothing but returning to her homeland. Witlessly, Marie becomes involved in political intrigue. A German, Staub, pays her to spy on the Japanese businessman, Tsamatsui, who pays her handsomely to spy on the American, Crawbett; she foolishly cooperates. 

She manages to buy a ticket back to France with the money, but just as she is packing to leave she is shot by an unseen assailant. Ultimately, Tsamatsui—honorable fellow after all—sends her body home in a shogun's coffin, even though he may well have been the means of her demise.

While stuck in Panama, she sings "J'attends un navire" ("I am waiting for my ship"), as she longs to get back to Bordeaux.