For some, the sign of prosperity is a candle factory, and for others - a military factory. Monsieur Gastié-Leroy sells weapons all over the world and dreams for even neutral Switzerland to acquire a certain amount of them soon enough, and thus become his client. "Yes, we sell them weapons, but we do not force them to shoot" - that's the somewhat duplicitous principle of the mythical General Poiserot he is guided by. He has a son, Pierre (Pierre Richard), who is already 33 years old, and he has neither a desire to work, nor any interest in arms or his father's business. On the contrary, he has a pacifist mindset. When the son tells the buyers about the weapons with a serious disposition, he does it so clumsily that the father is forced to say that his son is joking. Such opposing views are sure to lead to disaster.