Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis

Philippe Abrams is the manager of the French post office (La Poste) branch in Salon-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, in southern France. He is married to Julie, whose negative character makes his life miserable. Philippe does everything to get a job at an office in Sanary-sur-Mer, on the Mediterranean coast, to make her happy. As it is perceived that the position will be acquired more easily if one is disabled, Abrams pretends that he is disabled—and is found out by the management. As punishment, he is banished for two years to Bergues, a town near Dunkirk in northern France. Northern France—and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in particular—is considered "the sticks"—a cold and rainy place inhabited by unsophisticated ch'tis who speak a strange dialect (called "ch'ti" in local parlance, and pronounced "cheutimi" in the South). He has to spend his first night at the home of Antoine, a member of his staff who happens to live there. Philippe initially dislikes Antoine for his obnoxious behavior and because he initially thinks Antoine is gay (due to seeing pictures of him crossdressing), but later Philippe finds out that Antoine worked for a carnival for a time (where he did impressions of numerous people, men and women alike) and that he secretly has a crush on Annabelle, one of the workers at the post office. Antoine and Philippe subsequently become best friends. To Philippe's surprise, Bergues proves to be a charming place teeming with warm, friendly people and co-workers. Soon, he is completely won over, eating strong-smelling Maroilles cheese; talking to virtually every local (by delivering their mail, and accepting the recipients' invitation for a drink); playing at the beach; playing the carillon at the bell tower together, drinking beer like a local, going to an RC Lens football match and so forth. He tries to describe the happy turn of events to his wife who has remained in the South with their young son, but she does not believe him. This inspires Philippe to tell her what she wants to believe; that his life is wretched there. Everything goes fine until Julie decides to join him in the North to relieve his gloom. Philippe is forced to confess to his new friends and colleagues that he has described them as barbarians to his wife. First, they are angry, but they then decide to help him by behaving as such to cover for his lies and to scare Julie so she will depart quickly. They also let her stay in the old mining village near Bergues, pretending it is the main town. Julie has a very bad weekend, but decides she will move to Bergues to stay with Philippe, to be supportive. Just when she's ready to go back south, she discovers that she has been tricked when a local tells Julie that the actual town of Bergues is several kilometers away. When Philippe finds Julie at his real Bergues home, he tells her the truth about the happiness and friendship that the town has brought him. Julie is disappointed at first, but after realising her husband is happy, she decides to move north to be with him. Meanwhile, Antoine and Annabelle had been dating for over a year, but had broken up due to Antoine's passiveness towards his overbearing mother. Despite their split, Antoine still has feelings for Annabelle, who now has a new boyfriend. Upon learning this, Antoine cheers himself up by drinking alcohol during his work hours and behaves in an erratic manner. When Philippe urges Antoine to take courage and be assertive, Antoine finally confesses to his mother that he loves Annabelle and is planning to move to a new place with her. Unexpectedly, his mother is happy about it—she has waited all these years for Antoine to stand up for himself. As a result, Antoine proposes to Annabelle by the bell tower when it is playing a Stevie Wonder song. Annabelle accepts, and they get married. Three years later, Philippe receives a transfer to move to Porquerolles on the Mediterranean coast. Accepting the offer, Philippe and his family move south. Just as he is about to say goodbye, he is reduced to tears, proving Antoine's theory on the Ch'tis proverb ("A visitor brays [cries] twice up north; once on their arrival and once at their departure").

Plot from Welcome to the SticksCC BY-SA 4.0