Stephane and his troupe arrive at the Avignon Festival to perform ?Ma s?ur s'incruste?, a boulevard play. There, he runs into Fanny, an up-and-coming actress playing in a classic, and falls under her spell. Through a misunderstanding, she imagines him to be Rodrigue, the lead in Corneille's prestigious ?Cid?. To seduce her, Stephane embarks on a lie that he will have to keep up for the duration of the festival...but which will soon overtake him.