Justin, a lyricist by trade, and his friend Pierre, a composer, lead a bohemian life in Paris. Justin thinks his mother Josefa is richer than she appears, and decides to swindle her out of three million centimes by using Pierre as an intermediary in a case involving an insolvent check. Josefa uncovers the ruse and refuses to help her son. However, Pierre has discovered the identity of his friend's father, who had been unknown to him for twenty years. With the help of Justin's mother, the two friends do everything they can to extort the son's missing three million centimes from his ashamed and repentant father.
A soap-opera/murder mystery that builds to a deliriously melodramatic finale.
The story of the couple from the very first meeting to break up told from a view of a man, Jean-Marc. The film shares the same plot with "Françoise ou La vie conjugale", that tells the same story from another perspective.
