 Rene (P. Noiret) is a "ripou", a rotten cop who makes ends meet by accepting bribes, presents and free drinks from the people he should be putting in jail. When his partner retires, he must team up with Francois (Lhermitte), a young police school graduate with a righteous attitude. He is hard to break and Rene has to trick him. He introduces Francois to a charming girl and forgets to mention she s a prostitute. Now Rene has something against Francois he can use in case his partner should want to reveal Rene s little commerce with the underworld. The partners ultimately become friends, get one another out of a tough situation, and manage to gather enough money to buy Rene his lifelong dream : a small café near the horse tracks. This light comedy does not pretend to be a realistic picture of French police. Rather, it is the opportunity to have fun and discover unusual underworld characters. A forte is the way Paris is filmed : the opposite of a postcard. The action takes place in popular areas rarely used in film, shown as they are, with no embellishments.