François Pépin (his surname means "snag"),about to commit suicide by drowning,tells us about his life :always down on his luck,born on the 29th of February (so only a birthday every four years),and a washout professionally. The unlucky naive young man meets a girl from a (very) good background ,in a police station. The rich young kid's daddy is victim of an awful blackmail:he'll die if he does not fork out lots of dollars.