Jean Renoir's tribute to the co-operative spirit of the Popular Front begins with its titular hero, Amédée Lange (René Lefevre), arriving at a cafe-hotel on the Belgian border. The customers recognise him as the man wanted for the murder of his boss, Batala, in Paris, leading his female companion, Valentine, to explain the whole story: when the corrupt Batala had been forced to abscond from his printing press to avoid his creditors, his workers had taken over the business themselves. Running the company as a freewheeling collective, their success is threatened by Batala's sudden return.