Jean-MarieHardouin is an old man who once was notorious because of the irongrip he exerted on his family but now he is lame. He whiles away his days in a chair in the house of his son and daughter-in-law. He has to see how his adulterous daughter-in-law plots to murder her two foster children and her husband. Jean-Marie can't intervene and because he can't talk he can't warn his own family. Eventually he gathers all his strengths and strangles her.