In the final months of a war that he hasn't fought, in the alien Paris of winter 1944/45, a man decides to become a hero. Or rather to impersonate a hero... to invent a better, richer and more admirable life than the one he has. He becomes a virtuoso liar and, via omissions and allusions, builds up a remarkable character. This man, who is in fact someone else and who had nothing, will obtain everything : honours, admiration, friendship, power, love... but for how long...