It tells the story of a French prime minister (Jean Gabin), a lifelong proponent of the national good, who is twice betrayed by an opportunistic younger politician (Bernard Blier) but in the end gets his revenge.

Aged 73 and in ill-health, a former prime minister of France, the widower Émile Beaufort, spends his days in his country house near Evreux dictating his memoirs to his secretary.

When shown in, Chalamont opens with a spiel about relying in his new post on the advice of Beaufort, whom he has always admired and trusted, and how he too now believes in European unity.

Beaufort is not fooled, preferring France to have a new prime minister who is not a crook and a liar, so he threatens to divulge the currency incident to the media.

The book ends with The Premier adopting a detached, stoic attitude, withdrawing from any further involvement in politics and serenely preparing for his approaching death.