Its theme tune, composed by François de Roubaix, has subsequently been sampled in several songs, such as "All n My Grill" by Missy Elliott and "Supreme" by Robbie Williams.

Marceau Léonetti (Lino Ventura), a competent and energetic officer stops by chance the son of an influential lawyer driving under the influence of alcohol.

As a result, Marceau is transferred to a small police station, where the height of his investigative exploits is recovering a young boys stolen pigeons.

Léonetti is given another assignment, to locate and arrest Roger Martin (Philippe March), the only witness to a crime, who can testify at the murder trial of a master criminal Soramon (Guy Héron).

Jeanne tells Léonetti she is completely disillusioned with police work, for them allowing the death of Martin to happen, and doesn't think getting Soramon's conviction was worth it.

The film ends with the quotation "...for life is a wasted blessing/ when we have not lived it/as we would have liked", misattributed to the Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu.