Emile Chenal (Claude Brasseur) and his wife, Françoise (Nathalie Baye), leaned on boxing manager Jim Fox Warner (Johnny Hallyday) to cough up the considerable sum of money that he owes them, with both the police and the mob circling the situation. In the same hotel, Inspector Neveu (Jean-Pierre Léaud) looks into a murder that took place years before, and his storyline overlaps with the arc of the Chenals.