The dynamic Flora has decided to burglarize Colonel de la Ribodiere's apartment in the company of Romeo and Clotaire. The two men discover the old soldier lifeless on his bed. One after the other, the colonel's goddaughter Annette, the gendarmes and their brigadier, the Grivier cousins, who are sniffing out the inheritance, and the three thieves, who are hoping to get their way, pass by each other and avoid each other in the house. La Ribodière isn't dead, but he listens to what's being said, forms an opinion about everyone, ousts the Griviers, rewards Annette with a betrothal to Clotaire, and gives Flora and Roméo absolution.