After graduating from the ''École nationale d'administration'', which trains France's leaders in the public and private sectors, Arthur Vlaminck lands a job as speechwriter in the Foreign Ministry. Existing senior advisers do not welcome a talented newcomer who may become a competitor but his abilities are recognised by the Minister and, most important, by Maupas, the career official heading the department. That said, coming up with the right words for the constantly changing world situation and the constantly changing reactions of the Minister proves no easy task. He gets hastily written drafts past Maupas, and past other senior advisers who rubbish them, only to find that the Minister's needs have changed. The film ends in February 2003 with a re-enactment of the actual speech by Dominique de Villepin to the UN Security Council, at which he contradicted claims by Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld and argued passionately for disarmament of Iraq but not invasion.