Papillon (Steve McQueen) and Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman) are prisoners in a penal colony in French Guyana. They are out in the forest working to drain a swamp, dragging a log through it, when the prison guards shoot a crocodile. They tell Papillon and Dega to catch it and bring it back to the camp. The two men struggle to catch it, but eventually they do get a hold of it.