Jean Drault

A disillusioned rich American bets with a railroad worker that the latter will not be able to spend the 600,000 francs a month that he will pay him for a year. All the railwayman's attempts to win his bet fail but his daughter luckily conquers the American.

When bored American billionaire Charles Vanel is amused by the happiness of poor railroad man Nicolas Koline, he offers him a wager: if Koline and his family can spend 20,000 francs a day (about $11,000 in current American money) for a year, then he'll give him a nice pension. The rest of the movie is about the poor man and his family's efforts to win the bet.