The film begins with the narrated obituary of Arthur Howitzer Jr., the editor of the magazine The French Dispatch, who has died suddenly of a heart attack. According to the wishes expressed in his will, publication of the magazine is immediately suspended. A scene shows Howitzer and his editorial staff discussing the publication of the following four magazine pieces.The Cycling ReporterHerbsaint Sazerac delivers a cycling tour of the town of Ennui-sur-Blasé, demonstrating several key areas such as the arcade, Le Sans Blague café and a pick-pocket's alleyway. He compares the past and the present of each place, demonstrating how much and yet how little has changed in Ennui over time.The Concrete MasterpieceJ.K.L. Berensen delivers a lecture at the art gallery of her former employer, Upshur "Maw" Clampette, in which she details the career of Moses Rosenthaler. Rosenthaler, a mentally disturbed artist serving a sentence in the Ennui prison for murder, paints an abstract nude portrait of Simone, a prison officer with whom he develops a burgeoning relationship. Julien Cadazio, an art dealer also serving a sentence for tax evasion, is immediately taken by the painting and buys it despite Rosenthaler's protests. Upon his release, Cadazio convinces his family of art exhibitors to put it on display, and Rosenthaler soon becomes a sensation in the art world. Privately, Rosenthaler struggles with inspiration, and devotes himself to a long-term project.Three years later, Cadazio, his uncles, Clampette, Berensen, and a mob of artists inspired by Rosenthaler, all frustrated at the lack of further paintings, bribe their way into the prison to confront him, only to discover that his masterpiece is in fact a series of frescoes in the concrete prison hall. Angered that the paintings are irremovable from the prison, Cadazio gets into a physical altercation with Rosenthaler, but soon comes to appreciate the paintings for what they are, and later arranges for the entire room to be airlifted out of the prison into a private museum in Kansas, owned by Clampette. For his actions in halting a prison riot that breaks out during the reveal of the paintings, Rosenthaler is released on probation. Simone and Rosenthaler maintain correspondence following his release.Revisions to a ManifestoLucinda Krementz reports on a student protest breaking out in the streets of Ennui that soon boils over into the "Chessboard Revolution". While the revolution initially is inspired by petty concerns over access to the girls dormitory, the traumatic military conscription of one student, Mitch-Mitch, inspires greater uprising. The students' cause spreads to the working people of Ennui-sur-Blasé.Despite her insistence on maintaining "journalistic neutrality", Krementz has a brief romance with Zeffirelli, a self-styled leader of the revolt, and secretly helps him write his manifesto and adds an appendix. Juliette, a fellow revolutionary, is unimpressed with his manifesto. After they briefly express their disagreement about its contents, Krementz tells the two to "go make love", which they do.A few weeks later, Zeffirelli is killed attempting repairs on the tower of a revolutionary pirate radio station, and soon a photograph of his likeness becomes symbolic of the movement. Years later, Krementz adapts the story of Mitch-Mitch's conscription, and Zeffirelli and Juliette's relationship, for a play at the National Theatre.The Private Dining Room of the Police CommissionerDuring a television interview, Roebuck Wright recounts the story of his attending a private dinner with The Commissaire of the Ennui police force, prepared by legendary police officer/chef Lt. Nescaffier. Nescaffier is a famous specialist in a kind of haute cuisine specifically designed to be eaten by working police officers. The dinner is disrupted when the Commissaire's son Gigi is kidnapped and held for ransom by criminals, led by a failed musician called The Chauffeur.The kidnappers represent the warring criminal syndicates of Ennui-sur-Blasé, and demand the release of an underworld accountant called "The Abacus", who possesses their shared financial records. "The Abacus" is being held in a solitary confinement cell at police headquarters. Wright recollects his own imprisonment in that same cell for his homosexuality, for which he was bailed out by Howitzer and offered a job at the Dispatch.Following a shoot-out at the kidnapper's hideout, Gigi manages to sneak out a message in Morse code to "send the cook". Lt. Nescaffier is sent into the kidnappers' hideout, ostensibly to provide both them and Gigi with food, but secretly the food is laced with poison. The criminals all succumb to the poison, and Nescaffier just barely survives (due to his strong stomach) after being made to test it first, but The Chauffeur escapes with Gigi, and leads the police on a chase. Gigi manages to escape out of the sunroof and reunites with his father. During his recovery, Nescaffier saves "The Abacus" from starving to death by preparing him an omelette, the prisoner having been totally forgotten in the commotion.Back at the Dispatch office, Howitzer tells Wright to reinsert a deleted segment. In it, a recovering Nescaffier tells Wright that the taste of the poison was unlike anything he had ever eaten before, before they commiserate over the state of being foreigners in France. Howitzer and Wright disagree on whether this conversation is important.In an epilogue, the French Dispatch editorial staff mourn Howitzer's death and start to write his obituary for the final issue.