Une enquête du commissaire Prévôt

A young doctor is hired, with a friend, to work for an old miser whose garden contains a treasure. In love with the old man's daughter, the doctor wants to prevent her from marrying the old man who is promised to her. To do this, he must be rich and he must absolutely find the treasure.

In a town on the banks of the Saône1 Grasalard, a butcher, likes to feast and play boules with his friends. Although married, he falls in love with another woman.

Jean-Baptiste Rousse, nicknamed Noble Coeur, a journeyman carpenter in a village in Bigorre, was deported in 1942. On his return, he realizes that his compatriots have let the wood reserves on his building site be stolen. After an altercation with the mayor, he decides to take justice into his own hands and, with the help of his son Roland, cuts down the trees in the communal forest to pay him back. The mayor alerts the police. Noble Coeur takes refuge in the bell tower and, when the mayor refuses to let him bring in his wood, he demolishes it with an axe.