Police Commissioner Jules Maigret returns to the small village where he spent his childhood at the request of the Countess of Saint-Fiacre, who has received a disturbing anonymous letter.
Bobosse is increasingly immersing himself into the world of theater and experiencing his role as an actor more intensively. He plays in a piece where a man is abandoned by his wife and processes this philosophically. When his wife actually abandons him, he becomes embarrassed and plans to kill her.
Martine runs a sports center for women ,but they are short of the readies. To avoid seizure,she turns her health club into a nightclub with plenty of whiskey and wild women.
Antoine Peyralout is baker Mouillefarine's tricycle delivery man. Comical and stuttering, Antoine shows more interest in the local soccer team than in professional integrity. A wedding cake pays the price for it and the young man is dismissed. Not dispirited in the least, Antoine decides to go to Nice, where his favorite team will play the final of the Cup. On his merry (and eventful) way, he has the opportunity to save a pretty camper, Popeline, with whom he falls in love. Once in Nice, he discovers that Dabek, the brilliant goal-keeper is not up to his task following bad news...
In the absence of his wife, a clarinet player is induced by a friend to meet a call girl, but arrived after a crime. Perceived by some people leaving the scene of the crime covered by his raincoat, he became the only suspect for the police. His only hope is to discover the murderer before is name is mentionned publicly, specially in front of his wife.
Charles Fouquet, the Minister of Family Affairs, is having a hard time. His wife Olympe, although not that young, is expecting a baby. His daughter Annie, as for her, is pregnant by her fiance. And let's not forget Georges, Fouquet's son, who has seduced Natacha, his close (too close!) collaborator. As if that were not enough, a former mistress of Charles' comes and reveals to him the existence of a son he knew nothing about. But Charles is a man of action and he is not so easily deterred: he WILL take action against this abundance of offspring.
