In a fancy hotel in France, the receptionist is horrified to see Louis arrive. Since he’s the son of the company president, he thinks he can do whatever he wants without consequences. Louis is spoiled, rude, selfish, and wastes his father’s money in frivolity.
He brings a big group of friends and even a panther to the hotel room, where they proceed to party late into the night, annoying other guests with the noise and breaking things in the room. Someone brings a kangaroo to feed the panther and the poor kangaroo tries to escape by jumping into the pool, but the panther goes after it and eats it in front of everyone. The next day protesters gather to accuse the hotel of animal cruelty and throw tomatoes at the car carrying the company president Jean-François.
When he has a meeting with the investors, he’s told to do something about his son because the hotel reputation is going down and even celebrities are trying to cancel them for the kangaroo incident. A furious Jean-François rushes to the hotel to see Louis, who is still sleeping in the middle of the day. Jean-François scolds his son for his actions and points out he may get fired if this continues, but Louis doesn’t care and says he’ll keep enjoying the money while they still have it.
On his way out, Jean-François throws his son’s clothes in the trash. In the evening, Jean-François’s girlfriend Helene comes home angry because he missed her photography event. Jean-François apologizes and explains what’s happening, showing he’s been stuck in a state of despair all day.
Since he’s a widower he had to raise Louis alone yet he never spent too much time with him, so Helene encourages him to try. The next day Jean-François goes to a castle in the countryside where director Christian is recording another ad for the hotel. Christian complains about the model they sent him and thinks he can have the same demands as famous directions like Kubrick.
The ad so far shows a beautiful woman walking through the different rooms in the castle feeling like a princess until she finds a staff member wearing lingerie. Christian did this on purpose to catch genuine shock on camera, but Jean-François is worried the model will sue them for naughty content that wasn’t in her contract. This doesn’t bother Christian, who points out that to get the best out of someone, you shouldn’t ask for their opinion.
The words get stuck in Jean-François’ mind and when he’s about to leave the castle, he looks at the area and gets an idea. He runs back to Christian and offers him a movie deal. Sometime later Louis is coming out of a bar with two women when he notices his car being towed.
He tries running after it, but suddenly someone shoots him with a sedative and he collapses. The next morning Louis is woken up by a bell. He finds himself in a weird room wearing strange clothes before Silvain comes to shake him out of bed, reminding him not to be late.
At that moment foreman Beauvillain shows up to yell at Louis for still being in bed. When Silvain tries to defend him, Beauvillain starts throwing him around the room and hitting him for talking back to his boss. After throwing Silvain through the window, Beauvillain calls Louis a servant and sends him to work.
Louis leaves the building and freezes when he discovers he’s traveled back to the 18th century. Beauvillain has to run after him to send him to work. They find the Viscount pausing his walk to announce “it’s coming”, so Beauvillain shows Louis how to set up a bucket and folding screen so the Viscount can poop.
When he’s done, the Plague Doctor closely inspects the poop and gives a full analysis, complimenting the shape and the smell. Supposedly this proves the Viscount is healthy. Thinking he’s surrounded by weirdos, Louis tries running away.
He crosses the field and makes it to the forest where he finds a pack of wolves blocking the way. Then he tries taking a road, but Estienne appears with a bunch of hunting dogs that start chasing Louis. He crosses the bridge and ends up falling in a swamp where the dogs surround him.
Louis begs for mercy, however Estienne throws him on the ground and points a spear at him. Estienne thinks Louis must be executed for trying to escape from working for his father the Viscount, but the moment is interrupted by Estienne’s sister Isabeau. She thinks servants must be treated with dignity, which triggers an argument between siblings.
The Viscount is annoyed by all the noise and makes Estienne let Louis go. While Silvain picks Louis up, the bird that has been watching all this returns to the forest, revealing it’s a drone. It turns out this isn’t actually the past, it’s a film set created by Christian and Jean-François to teach Louis some humility.
The staff has set up the base of operations near the forest where Jean-François shows concern about the wolves and the dogs. Christian explains it had been necessary to make Louis believe it was real. While the special effects guy prepares a table full of fake poops, Estienne checks on his girlfriend Lison, the horse trainer.
Back in the fake village, Louis watches Silvain and other servants peel potatoes while asking questions. He learns he’s in 1702 and France still haves a king instead of democracy. When Louis starts making comments about Hitler, Christian sends Beauvillain to put Louis to work.
However even while peeling potatoes Louis keeps talking about coming from the future. At first Silvain doesn’t know what to do but soon he gets in character and reacts in a confusion at every modern word Louis uses. Thinking about the night his car was taken, Louis assumes he was hit by another vehicle and concludes he must recreate that to return to the future.
He runs outside and throws himself in front of a vegetable cart, which is too small and only bumps against his leg. Next Louis runs toward an actual carriage and hits his head, instantly falling unconscious. Silvain runs to check on him, but Louis doesn’t respond.
Jean-François thinks his son is dead and Christian tries to apologize for going too far, however Louis then wakes up and Christian happily announces the show must go on. Days pass and Louis has to get used to his new routine. He wakes up at sunrise every morning and spends the day running after the Viscount to set up the bucket for his pooping.
His chores also including helping in the kitchen. Instead of an actual bath, he must wash himself in a bucket. One afternoon Jean-François invites Helene to watch the plan unfold.
In the stables, Louis finds Isabeau, who is crying because her father wants her to marry an old rich man she doesn’t like. She says she wants to experience love with a young man even if he’s a servant, clearly flirting with Louis. However Louis thinks she’s lucky because she can marry the old rich man and wait for him to die soon, then she’ll get all the money and do whatever she wants.
Then he just walks away. After watching this Christian becomes frustrated since his supposedly perfectly written love story is failing. On the other hand Helene is disgusted by this plan, calling it experimenting on a human being.
Back to Isabeau, she tries to get on her horse but the animal starts freaking out. Louis watches this but does nothing to help, saying he doesn’t know anything about horses. Lison arrives to help and her skirt accidentally goes up, revealing she’s wearing a thong.
When Louis notices, he runs to Lison and tackles her to the ground, trying to check under her skirt to confirm it was real. However when he manages to open her legs, he’s shocked to see she’s wearing no underwear. Lison kicks him off before turning around to smoothly hide the thong she just took off.
While Christian angrily yells at the staff for the wardrobe mistake, Helene scolds Jean-François for treating Louis like an object that can be forced into change and announces she’s leaving. However Jean-François makes her stay when he discovers that Louis is looking for Lison to apologize. The staff rushes to get Lison ready, ignoring her protests when she points out she’s a horse trainer and not an actress.
Louis knocks on her door and the staff makes her wait a few seconds before opening so he can suffer through his guilt. As soon as she goes out, Louis apologizes for the incident, and Lison responds that him touching her means they must get married. Louis almost freaks out but Lison clarifies it was a joke and leaves.
Seeing Louis being thoughtful on the screen, Christian announces the experiment is a success and even Helene is a bit impressed. During lunch Christian and Jean-François explain to Helene their plan to make Louis fall in love with Isabeau so he can start a better life. Helene thinks they’re idiots because Louis clearly likes Lison, but her ideas are ignored.
Sometime later Silvain drags Louis to a traditional festival in the forest. Louis hates the old style music and teaches the band to play a modern song. Then he convinces everyone to get in a conga line.
Jean-François gets emotional because this matches a moment from a birthday party Louis had as a kid. Isabeau attends the festival as well and asks Louis to teach her how to have fun before she gets stuck in an unwanted marriage forever, but Louis ignores her and goes looking for Lison instead. Helene points out she was right about Louis’ feelings yet Christian refuses to give up.
Silvain is sent to tell Louis that Lison is at the river, however he finds Isabeau pretending to drown. He immediately jumps in the water to save her and carries her in his arms. Isabeau keeps on trying to flirt with him, but Louis just drops her in her carriage and leaves.
Christian begins freaking out over another failure, so Helene takes over the directing for now. By nighttime, Louis finally finds Lison, who didn’t attend the festival at all. Following Helene’s instructions, Lison tells Louis that she does believe his story about the future.
Louis is delighted and takes Lison for a walk during which he explains many concepts like phones and planes. He even takes a bite from an apple to show her the logo he had on his phone, saying it was the company’s “coat of arms”. Lison is amused until Louis begins talking very badly about servants, blue collar jobs, and the public transport.
She calls him out for his attitude and reminds him he spends the day carrying the Viscount’s poop before she storms off. Seeing this, Christian mocks Helene for thinking her idea would do any better. The next day Lison apologizes to Helene for failing her and explains she has to deal with spoiled rich brats every day at the ranch she works at.
Helene understand and tells her she doesn’t have to get into a romance plot with Louis, just help him grow. Christian is still annoyed so Jean-François assures him he’s still in control and Helene is just a consultant. When Lison tells Estienne that she’ll keep acting as Louis’ friend, Estienne freaks out thinking she’ll have to kiss him or worse.
However Lison thinks his jealousy is a lie and Estienne is actually angry that she’s obtained a more prominent role than him. That night Louis asks Silvain how to romance a woman the old-fashioned way. Silvain tells him he must be like a bear and release all his raw masculinity, then he proceeds to teach him the “bear dance”.
It’s very naughty but also absolutely ridiculous. The next day Louis sings a song for Lison using her name and many compliments, also apologizing for his attitude. He does the dance while he sings, actually making her laugh and impressing her with his sincerity.
Afterward Louis thanks Silvain for being a true friend, even calling him “brother”. In the middle of the night Jean-François dresses up as the Viscount to sneak in Louis’ room to watch him sleep. Silvain sees him and points out this may ruin the plan, which triggers an argument.
It’s all the angry whispering that wakes Louis up and Jean-François has to hide his face with his jacket. Louis is still sure he’s seeing his father, so Silvain has to hit him to knock him out. Then an angry Christian has to enter the set to drag Jean-François away by force.
The following day Louis tells Silvain he hit his head while sleeping and dreamed about his father. Beauvillain informs the Viscount that Estienne and his friends got in trouble in the city, so the King wants Estienne to be properly punished. The Viscount talks to Louis in private and asks him to pretend to be Estienne to take the punishment in his place.
If Louis accepts, the Viscount will give him his own farm land and permission to marry anyone he wants. At first Louis says no, but he changes his mind when he realizes this could mean marrying Lison. A few hours later, Louis is in a cage pretending to be Estienne.
All the locals are angry that Estienne is ruining their town’s reputation in the King’s eyes, so they throw trash at Louis in protest. He’s taken to the scaffold and a masked man proceeds to repeatedly whip his rear while the crowd asks for more. Christian thinks this is peak cinema, but Helene is horrified.
Afterward Louis goes to see the Viscount but instead finds Estienne, who forces him to sit down regardless of his pain. Estienne says his father is gone and he chooses not to give Louis the promised reward before throwing him off the chair. Forgetting he’s supposed to be acting, Estienne accuses Louis of wanting to take Lison from him and mocks him for being a servant while throwing wine at his face.
Helene is horrified again, but Christian thinks this makes for a good twist and allows it. Then Louis stands up and looks like he’s about to rebel against Estienne only to leave the room. Christian and Jean-François are disappointed, however Helene this time is impressed: she points out that Louis is finally accepting consequences for his choices instead of being a complaining brat.
Later Louis visits Lison and asks her if she’s ok with befriending a bathroom servant, so she assures him he’s fine. That night Louis receives Lison in his room with a modest meal he made himself by learning from the kitchen staff. Helene is proud but Christian thinks this is turning the story boring.
The following day Lison and Louis go for a walk and see a bird behaving strangely in the sky. Since it’s the drone malfunctioning, Christian asks for a distraction. Lison pushes Louis on top of the hay and kisses him until the drone is retrieved, then she leaves without a word.
Christian and Jean-François celebrate, however Helene thinks they should stop this before it escalates since nobody should start a relationship based on lies. Helene and Christian argue over how to proceed and since Jean-François refuses to take sides, Helene says he's gone too far and leaves. This causes Jean-François to order Christian to finish the show.
For the last act, Christian makes vikings appear in the village. Louis wants to run away to safety but Silvain tells him Lison may need him. He rushes back to the village and discovers that the viking leader has chosen Lison as his wife.
Lison begins crying for help, however Louis is too afraid and walks away. He’s about to get on his horse when he notices the bird drone flying above him. Seeing it as a sign, Louis grabs the thickest stick he can find and rides back to the viking camp, where he starts knocking all the poor actors out.
He’s so proud of himself that he almost attacks Beauvillain too, but Lison stops him just in time. She gets on the horse with him and together they ride into the sunset. Soon they reach the road and Louis is shocked to see Jean-François asking Helene not to leave while surrounded by cars and guards.
Before he can react, Louis is put to sleep by a sedative dart. Sometime later Louis wakes up in a hospital. He’s told he was in a car accident and in a coma for three months, so he assumes everything was a dream.
Now he’s depressed and doesn’t party anymore. One afternoon Silvain sees him on the street but he can’t talk to him because of a contract clause. That night Louis has a drink with his father, who reveals he quit the company and now he feels lonely.
Louis tells him all about his dream and how it felt so real, asking his father to believe in Helene. Moved by such a strong love, Jean-François decides to tell Louis the truth. In the morning, Jean-François takes Louis to the ranch where Lison works.
The couple reunites and rides into the sunset again to share a kiss. Meanwhile Jean-François visits Helene to try to repair their relationship. Sometime later Christian begins a new business by putting rich kids in historical sets to teach them a lesson.
