From his bed in a retirement home, Thomas (Michel Bouquet) looks back with resentment on his life. He once dreamed of being a secret agent and instead became an unexceptional bureaucrat, but he clings to the idea that things might have been different but for one crucial event. Thomas believes he and another baby were switched at birth, thus granting his lifelong rival, Alfred (Peter Bohlke), an undeserved life of wealth and privilege. Still jealous, Thomas decides to finally settle the score.