Jean (Gad Elmaleh), a waiter/barman at a luxury hotel, is mistaken to be a millionaire by IrÃ¨ne (Audrey Tautou), a gold digger who convinces wealthy men to fund her lavish lifestyle in exchange for companionship and sex. IrÃ¨ne's elderly lover gets drunk and falls asleep on her birthday, so she goes to the bar in the hotel where she and Jean meet. After making her several impressive cocktails they retire, tipsy, to the hotel's Imperial suite where they spend the night together. In the morning, Jean awakens to find IrÃ¨ne has gone.
A year later IrÃ¨ne returns to the hotel with Jacques, who asks her to marry him. IrÃ¨ne is surprised to see Jean and he manages to conceal his occupation from her again. Jean and IrÃ¨ne sleep together again, but Jacques sees them and breaks off the engagement. IrÃ¨ne goes to Jean pretending she gave up Jacques to be with him, but as they lie in bed together, they are discovered by guests and staff in the Imperial suite. When IrÃ¨ne discovers who Jean really is, she walks out. However, Jean is now in love and follows her, finding her at CÃ´te d'Azur. Pursuing her, he spends all the money to his name to pay for her presence, including his savings and pension plan, until he uses his final euro for "10 more seconds" to look into her eyes.
IrÃ¨ne leaves him for another rich man and Jean is left with a hotel bill he can't pay. Luckily, Jean is picked up by a wealthy widow, Madeline, who pays his bills in exchange for his companionship. IrÃ¨ne bumps into him again with another lover, Gilles. She is a little jealous, but now that they are "equals", she teaches Jean the tricks of gold-digging. Using her advice, he soon wheedles a â¬30,000 watch from Madeleine, after she forced him to have plastic surgery on his ear. On a shopping spree, IrÃ¨ne meets up with Jean and coyly offers him the euro for "10 more seconds".
Jean continues to prove himself a skillful gold digger and he and IrÃ¨ne steal away from their sponsors at every chance they get to meet, falling in love in the process. On the morning of IrÃ¨ne's departure to Venice, Giles catches IrÃ¨ne and Jean kissing on the hotel room balcony.
Furious, Gilles leaves Irene at the hotel with nothing but a sarong and the swim suit she is wearing. Jean sells his watch to buy IrÃ¨ne a week's stay in their hotel and a gorgeous evening gown. He also gives her an invitation to a party. Madeleine is at first upset with Jean for selling his watch, but Jean calms her down by giving her a pair of earrings. He claims that he pawned the watch to buy Madeline a gift and she is pleased.
At the party that evening, IrÃ¨ne sees Jacques again, but with a new young girlfriend, AgnÃ¨s. Whilst stealing a dance with Jean, IrÃ¨ne hatches a plan to win Jacques back again, with Jean's assistance. Jean agrees to play along and is dumped by Madeline in the process. However, he convinces AgnÃ¨s that he is a prince and seduces her away from Jacques, giving IrÃ¨ne a chance to steal Jacques. However, when IrÃ¨ne sees Jean with AgnÃ¨s on the balcony, she realizes she loves Jean. She runs away from Jacques and declares her love, abandoning her pursuit of a luxurious lifestyle. The movie ends with barefoot IrÃ¨ne and Jean riding off to Italy on his scooter, using the euro coin for the toll fee.
Who breaks off the engagement?
Jacques