 A man and a woman arrive in a cafe-hotel near the belgian frontier. The customers recognize the man from the police s description. His name is Amedee Lange, he murdered Batala in Paris. His lady friend Valentine tells the whole story : Lange was an employee in Batala s little printing works. Batala was a real bastard, swindling every one, seducing female workers of Valentine s laundry... One day he fled to avoid facing his creditors, and the workers set up a cooperative to go on working. But the plot is less important that the description of the atmosphere just before the Popular Front.