The scene shifts between Paris and Springdale, a small Ohio mill town where AmCos, the manufacturer of the after-shave lotion Macho is located. Harrison "Hal" Hammond, the ambitious CEO of AmCos, has decided to acquire Saint-Rémy, the upscale French producer of the world-renowned perfume Chaumont. Egged on by his scheming French wife and ignoring the cautionary advice of his American colleagues, Hammond plunges ahead with his French project. "Doing deals in Paris is no different than in Peoria" is his belief.
Saint-Rémy is run by a wily French bourgeois, Hubert Montigny, who is determined to prevent his prize possession, which has been in his family's possession for three generations, from falling into foreign hands. He will marshal all possible defenses
