A famous convict Jacques Collin, alias Trompe la mort, or abbot Carlos Herrera, also called Vautrin, escapes from prison. Chance makes him meet Lucien de Rubempré, an impetuous and eternal lover who, when he is dismissed, collapses. Moved by this fragility, he takes him under his wing, and will do everything possible to ensure that his creature reaches happiness, even if it means imagining the worst shenanigans and other scams, with the help of a band of clever villains.

One of the subjects of the Prince of Slopoldavia, followed him to Paris, not out of love but to take revenge for the monarch's betrayal of one of his friends. Involuntary architect of a plot, she forces the prince to return to the throne and agrees to share the burdens of power with him.

A father allows himself to be accused of the murder of a blackmailer to save his son who is the real murderer. But he is forced to confess, and commits suicide in his cell.

Vérotchka, a vivacious theater actress touring in a provincial town, is turned out of her hotel by orders of Monsieur Tricointe, the stern president of the local law court. In a rage, the actress knocks at Tricointe's door with a view to protesting against the treatment she is given. She goes about it so well that she ends up being accommodated by the president himself. This is the moment Jean-Pierre Gaudet, the Minister of Justice, chooses to pay an unannounced visit to his friend Tricointe. There he mistakes Vérotchka for Madame Tricointe and the president does not dare to contradict Gaudet. A lot of absurd situations ensue.

A young man marries the daughter of a famous actress, but is visibly more attracted to his stepmother. She manages, not without difficulty, to reconnect the bonds of a vacillating household.

Famous author Bretonneau gets his ghost writer Moluchet to impersonate the notorious criminal Jim la Houlette and pretend to steal a manuscript to boost the sales of their novels.

A very nice young man, Sylvain Renaud is "surrounded" by two bad guys who want to drag him into some very dirty business.

An engineer is hired to plan and oversee the construction of a undersea tunnel between Europe and the US. However, certain interests don't want to see the tunnel built and use every means at their disposal, including sabotage and murder, to stop its construction. French-language version of the 1933 German DER TUNNEL, q.v.

Bariole gives cheap singing lessons, which annoys the official teachers.

Josette needs to marry within a year to get her aunt's money.Her fiance,an Englishman, has gone away .After getting permission from her godfather to do a "white marriage," she realizes that she really loves the godfather instead.

Le Bouif is a popular figure on the Parisian racetrack. He has the patter, the aplomb, the bonhomie, which allows him to pass on indestructible pipes to the racegoers. The amazement is general when he is accused of murdering the person of his son-in-law and then suspected of having suppressed the owner of a stable. Faced with the stubbornness of the examining magistrate, but helped by sympathetic young people, the Bouif proves his innocence and, back on the lawn, measures his popularity.

The captain of a Marseille freighter suspects his wife of cheating on him with his childhood friend. The ulcerated wife decides to take a trip with her sister and this friend, and registers herself under a false name on her husband's boat. A disaster caused by the fog reveals to the household their love for each other.