"Chapeau Claque" is the story of a young business-man, Hanno Giessen, who retires at the age of 33. The family business has gone bankrupt after making millions from the sale of "chapeau claques" (stove-pipe hats), but Giessen rescues his share of the fortune and withdraws to the family estate where he really does nothing all day but devote himself to his passion for collecting things. Is he bored? Not at all. He receives guests, shows some interest in the naked girl who lies around in the garden, and - when he isn't changing into another bathrobe - defines his life to the camera as a science-fiction fairy-tale. Or as a modern Robinson Crusoe - to the envy of all the would-be escapists who have yet to find their green island.