Born into a wealthy family of French vintners, Max is a loner who devoted himself entirely to his obsession: the arrest of criminals.[1] A former judge he is a police inspector and he sees a new band of burglars escape. This failure is still fresh in his mind when he meets Abel who has become a scrap thief and plunders construction sites with a small band of hoodlums around Nanterre. Max plans to encourage them to commit something big and catch them on the spot. Posing as a client, he meets Lily,[2] a young German-born prostitute who is the companion of Abel.[3] He pretends to be the director of a small bank branch which receives significant amounts of money at regular intervals. He ensures the support of his police commissioner. Max fails however to reveal his role as instigator. Gradually, some feeling arises between Max and Lily. But Max keeps a reserved attitude and merely influences the scrap through her. Finally, guessing the band ready for action, he communicates an ideal date to commit robbery. On the scheduled day, the police await them and they are arrested. Later in the police station, Rosinsky (the top cop in the bank's district) reveals to Max that he wants all collaborators brought to justice, including Lily. Distraught, Max tries to save her and ends up threatening Rosinsky. In an argument, Max pulls out his gun and kills him.[4]
