In which the squalid and bustling office of a Parisian attorney provides the stage for a curious encounter between a ragged old man claiming the title of Colonel Chabert and the dismissive clerks who scarcely believe his tale. Through the somber reflections and meticulous observations of the legal functionaries, the stranger’s ghostly appearance and solemn recounting of his reputed death on the battlefield unfold with a haunting gravity fitting the gravest affairs of justice and memory.