The director of a dairy cooperative in La Manche dies in a vat of milk. In line to succeed him are his four deputy managers all with very different temperaments: the aristocratic Dufaux the seductive Courtin the pious Lainé and the wait-and-see Tousseur. Each of them pulls out all the stops to win a major order from Morloch. Once this is achieved election to the post of director by the cooperators is all but assured.