When Julien Foucault – head waiter at the highly venerable merchant bank Berthin-Schwartz – finds out he is to be made redundant, he sees it as an opportunity to realise his long-held dream of opening a restaurant with his best friend Etienne. However, after 17 years of good and loyal service, the bank refuses to give him any financial backing. Julien thus decides to profit from the confidential information of which its employees make use. But the employees catch him red-handed in the act of insider dealing and decide to play a Machiavellian trick on him.