Claire's handbag is stolen. It contained a letter written ten years previously by the man who is now the French President. In the letter he urges his pregnant mistress to have an abortion. Claire immediately alerts the President's men. From that moment, the machinery of state swings into action.

A young, unscrupulous director hires an actress and uses the story she tells him of her life to write his screenplay, but fires her and entrusts the leading role to someone else.