The pragmatic, reserved and refined Maigret investigates murders in his singular unhurried manner and inevitably discovers the truth.
In 1972 16-year-old Marie-Claire became pregnant after a rape. With help from her mother Michelle and three other women, she underwent a clandestine abortion. Under a 1920 law, the five women were arrested and charged. Supported by a procession of well-known French (eg Simone de Beauvoir), the five were released and the law was adapted.
An Indian delegation, headed by Kuldip Badhwar, is going to Cateneau's French power plant to negotiate the purchase of four new generation nuclear reactors. Before signing the contract, the Indian representative requires guarantees on the safety of the installations and requests an emergency shutdown test of the reactor. But a succession of incidents occur and seem to turn to disaster.
