Based on a true story, Papillon tells the story of Henri Charriere, also known as Papillon, which is French for 'butterfly', because he sports a large tattoo of a butterfly. Papillon, a petty criminal, is wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in the French penal colony in Guyana (South America). Papillon is determined to escape but his first attempts result in eventual recapture, despite reaching such locales as an Indian paradise and a leper's colony. As punishment, he is sent to Devil's Island, a prison within the Guyana prison, from which no one has ever escaped. He continues his attempts to escape despite incarcerations in solitary confinement as punishment.