In England, a boxer is sentenced to death for a murder he does not seem to have committed.... Anthony Gethryn, who has just resigned from the police on the occasion of his marriage, has three days left to find the real killer.

Now that their parents are ruined, Jacques Eyssette and his younger brother Daniel, are driven to fend for themselves. Jacques becomes the secretary of a marquis who exploits him by making him work so hard that his health gets damaged. Daniel, on his part, is hired as a supervisor and Latin teacher in a school in the province. It soon happens that he is in a bad situation too as, after being subjected to repeated harassment, he ends up being fired. Daniel then decides to join Jacques in Paris, hoping to embark on a literary career. Unfortunately, Irma Borel, an actress, sets her sight on him and drags him into a life of vice.

Arlette, a young orphan girl, is taken in by four spinster cousins, the eldest of whom, Telcide, is very authoritarian. Arlette befriends Marie, and arranges her sentimental affairs, which were at an impasse.

Five unemployed workers win 100,000 Francs in the national lottery. Instead of sharing the money, they buy a ruin and build an open-air cafe. But difficulties come to split their friendly group apart.