Émile Boulard is a props man in a Paris movie studio. He has a wife, Suzanne. Or to be more accurate, let's say he HAD a wife since she left him fifteen years before, allegedly ... to go buy a post stamp. But now that their daughter Martine , who lives with her, is old enough to marry, she resurfaces. She confesses that, in order to explain his absence, she has told Martine her father was a great explorer and lion hunter in Africa. Not to disappoint his daughter, Émile accepts to pose as the adventurer he is supposed to be. At the same time he will help Daniel, Martine's bashful fiancé, not to become a henpecked husband like him.

Modeste accessoiriste de studio, Emile revoit sa femme qui l'a abandonné il y a maintenant vingt ans, en emmenant avec elle sa fille Martine. Cette dernière est en âge de se marier et voudrait obtenir le consentement de son père pour épouser Daniel. Mais, devinant que Daniel risque d'être, comme il le fut, victime du caractère autoritaire de son épouse, Emile décide de monter de toutes pièces des situations difficiles. En particulier, il invente une histoire de gansters au cours de laquelle devrait briller Daniel. Malgré l'intervention d'un véritable gangster, son plan réussit et c'est ainsi que Daniel subjugue Martine. Emile sera récompensé en retrouvant définitivement Suzanne.