He has fashioned his own career and is prospering but does not manage to win big public contracts to match his dreams of grandeur. He therefore decides to throw himself body and soul into the election campaign of Vincent Cluzel, a candidate—an outsider—for the position of mayor, certain that Cluzel will give him a helping hand if he wins. Using energy and ruse, he manages to discredit the favourite and get Cluzel elected. But their sincere friendship formed in the conquest of power then comes up against the limits of self-interest and ambition.