Four noble ladies, four widows, live in isolation in a Berry ch teau. There's the Mme de Bussange, her two sisters Sylvie and Hélène, her sister-in-law Elisabeth and her little boy, who alone will pass on the family name. Two men come along: Gilbert and René, bringing trouble and confusion. Gilbert courts Hélène, while René becomes attached to Elisabeth. Relations between the widows become strained and heated, until an attempt is made on Elisabeth's life. The culprit, Sylvie, kills herself. In despair, Mme de Bussange sets fire to the castle and dies in the inferno.

Young Monique leaves the preventorium where Doctor Delaunay has lovingly cared for her. A painful return. Her mother Denise lives with Eugène, a handsome, disreputable young man who's easy to please and, on occasion, won't hesitate to steal. He hangs around Monique, excited by her freshness, until the day he is shot on suspicion of the disappearance of a mobster. Monique is reunited with Dr Delaunay, much to the satisfaction of her guardian Gilbert, known as Patte-en-moins, owner of the local bistro.

Micheline Bertier is as wise as she is graceful, and is the perfect assistant to her boss, couturier Maurice Darnal. Darnal's business is faltering and he has to close down. Micheline's family is also in trouble. Her crazy-headed sister is about to steal her fiancé away from her. At the suggestion of singer Jacqueline François, Micheline goes on tour as an accompanist, and meets up with Darnal in Nice, full of projects he wants to involve her in. Micheline, who arrives in time to save her sister from a suicide attempt, will know how to run the new fashion house.

Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, and those of his two successors, are followed in more detail to the start of the Revolution, after which the story is brought rapidly up to date. A huge cast plays mainly historical persons who appear briefly.

Energetic priest Don Camillo returns to the town of Brescello for more political and personal duels with Communist mayor Peppone.

Story is primarily based on the adventures of Antoine, a young telegraph messenger on his second night of work. He is given three telegrams, one of which is for the president of the Camber of Deputies. Excited, Antoine runs his bicycle into a truck and loses the telegrams. What follows is an amusing and agonizing search for the missing messages. He is assisted first by a glum, wise-beyond-her-years little girl, Amelie; an off-duty police superintendent, a schoolmaster, a cookie-tin maker and a fireman. The harmonica musical theme is played by Flore Falvey.