Jacques Landauze, a trendy poet in Paris, shoots someone at a party in a moment of drunken madness and escapes, assuming the man is dead. He becomes a poacher under the name Dumontel and meets Germaine Montazon who likes literature. One day, she steals some of his writings and asks her husband to publish it. The jealous husband has the man investigated and finds out his true identity. He invites Dumontel-Landauze to diner when one of the guests recites Landauze's poems. Germaine recognizes Dumontel's work. Montazon, crazy with jealousy, forces drinks down Jacques's throat and locks him up with his wife.