Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis

Phlippe Abrams is manager of the post office in Salon-de-Provence. He is married to Julie, whose depressive nature makes his life impossible. To please her, Philippe tries to cheat the system in order to obtain a transfer to the Cote d'Azur. But he is uncovered so he is to be transferred to Bergues, a small town in the North.

For the Abrams, very prejudiced southerners, the North is a nightmare, a freezing region, inhabited by uncouth beings, spluttering out an incomprehensible language, 'cheutimi'. Philippe goes alone. To his great surprise, he discovers a charming place, a warm bunch and welcoming people and makes a friend: Antoine, the postman and village bell- ringer, who has a possessive mother and thwarted love affairs. When Philippe returns to Salon, Julie refuses to believe that he likes it in the North. She even thinks that he is lying so as not to upset her. To please her and to make his life easier, Philippe makes her believe that actually, his life in Bergues is hell.

From that moment on, his life slips into a comfortable lie: for two whole weeks, he has a great time in the North in the company of Antoine and one weekend in two, he lets himself be pampered by his wife who bit by bit is overcoming her depression. Everything is going well until the day when Julie decides to join Philippe in Bergues in order to better help him get through what she believes is an ordeal.

Philippe is forced to admit to Antoine and his team that he has described them to his wife as savages. He begs them to behave as such to cover up his lie and to scare Julie so that she will leave again very quickly. Grudgingly, Philippe's employees take part in the farce and give Julie the worst stay of her life.

But Julie uncovers the hoax.