Authorized signatory Henri Rainier (Jean-Louis Trintignant) has been working at a Paris bank for many years. When he somewhat carelessly grants a large loan to a customer named Claude Chevalier d'Aven (Claude Brasseur), this is the trigger for a major financial scandal, because Claude is a fraudster and numerous bank customers lose their money as a result. The bank management soon finds a culprit for the irreparable damage: the authorized signatory Henri Rainier. The latter fights against his dismissal and tries to clear up the background ...