After Serge Alexandre Stavisky (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is arrested for fraud for the first time in 1926, his ashamed father kills himself. Undeterred, Stavisky sticks with con games, rising in prominence by selling worthless investments to the French government. Devoted to his wife, Arlette (Anny Duperey), Stavisky prospers despite swindling old friends like Baron Raoul (Charles Boyer). When rumors of his financial dishonesty and extravagances spread, the disgraced financier goes on the run.