The Madwoman of Chaillot plot
"With the world getting ready to blow itself up, look who's minding the store."
The eccentric Countess Aurelia lives in the Chaillot district of Paris. Together with her friends she lives in a fantasy world that mainly takes place in the past. In a nearby cafe, an international conspiracy is formed by four men who want to drill for oil under the streets of Paris. The pacifist student Roderick, and cousin of one of the conspirators, informs Aurelia about the plans of the four men. The Countess and her friends hatch a plan to thwart the conspiracy: one by one, the men are invited into Aurelia's cellar on the pretext that oil is seeping through the foundations.