When the party's official candidate, suffering from cancer, is forced to resign, Michel Dedieu is named to replace him at the last minute. Michel is to be confronted very shortly with his opponent at a TV debate and as he is little known, his campaign committee decides to coach him in a TV studio reproduced in his own home. Michel complies reluctantly. Worse he has a row with his wife, who disappears after having shaken off her bodyguard. The atmosphere is so tense that Dedieu suddenly feels unwell. He is stunned when the doctor he consults tells him he strongly doubts the former candidate really has cancer.