When Emile Maugin, a famous veteran actor, discovers that a heart problem seriously threatens his health, he decides to reflect on his life. Arrogant, brusque, and cynical, yet at heart generous, he reigns as a tyrant over the small group of devoted subjects who surround him, including Alice, his very young second wife. The fear of death, however, looms over him inevitably and leads him to dream of making an old aspiration of his first wife come true: to live in a house with green shutters, a symbol of material success but also of the peaceful security that always exists. Will he be able to recognize the happiness within his reach before it's too late?