Serge Pilardosse (Depardieu), retires from the job he has held for many years, as a slaughterhouse worker in
Lyon. His colleagues throw him an impromptu party and give him a gift, which he doesn't like. Once home, he becomes all too quickly restless and realizes that being retired is kind of boring, as he has nothing to do. Eventually his wife convinces him to go and see about claiming a pension. At the pensions office, he discovers that even though he has never missed a day's work for illness, nor been unemployed since college, he cannot claim a full pension due to a few gaps in his pensions history, which he has to verify with 10 written proofs from each employer in question. Back home, his wife insists that he goes for the required papers so that the pensions claim can be processed. He takes his
Münch Mammut motorcycle, nicknamed "Mammuth" and sails off through
France to retrieve the documents. -
4 TTS 1200 Mammut model used in the film. Over the course of his endeavor, he loses his way and wonders about the sense of his life. He relives memories from his past, especially concerning his girlfriend who many years ago died in a motorcycle accident. He visits his previous places of employment, old friends, his aging cousin and the home of his estranged brother, hoping to make amends. He also gets to know his oddball niece, who introduces him to the world of
naïve art. Realising that people perceive him as a bit of a jerk, he returns to his brother's house and his niece takes him into her world where he re-discovers himself and the poet within. Eventually he visits the site where the accident happened. He places a remembrance bouquet and shakes off the memories, finally liberating himself. He returns to his wife newly invigorated, happy about his future. ==Cast==