May 1944, in Provence, a young Jewish woman fleeing Nazi persecution, entrusts her three-month-old granddaughter to a stranger, Mathieu, a solitary shepherd who will raise her alone. Once the war is over, he will leave with her, in search of the mother. A research that will last more than twenty years and that will lead them to several European countries.

Paris is a city where effervescence is dangerous for city dwellers, who have become nothing more than "nervous machines". Two eminent psychiatrists, one French and one American, decided to administer a sedative to all Parisians, proceeding by arrondissement, which they injected in single, double or triple doses. Soon, the whole of Paris was injected. Calm, good humor and kindness returned, but 11 refused to be treated and remained the only Parisian not to have been treated.

Arlette has too provincial parents to whom she announces her plan about own independence. After her departure, Marc, her absent fiance seek for her in vain in Paris until he discovers her picture on the magazine cover.

For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.

Alice Rémon, a pharmacist, is a prostitute who managed to leave the streets by getting married. Her husband dies one day, poisoned. Her mother-in-law, who hates her, accuses her of murder.

Two unlikely companions must smuggle four suitcases filled with contraband pork across Nazi-occupied Paris.

A dam is under construction in the Pyrénées mountains. All the workers only have eyes for pretty, sensual Clara, the canteen waitress. And what she exchanges with many of them is more than just looks, this is for sure. Nevertheless, despite her frivolity, Clara falls truly in love with Tonio Borelli, the site foreman. The latter takes her to Paris and they marry. But Clara soon realizes that the call of the flesh still consumes her...

A terminally ill Mr. Bard, a casino bus driver forced to quit his job, miraculously wins a fortune playing roulette. Instantly becoming a millionaire, he wants to fulfill his life's dream: to become a father. This plan is opposed by his greedy relatives who would go any low to take this money away from him. They are being led by a small-time crook. Mr. Bard's natural shyness and good heart lead him to the journey of self-exploration and finding his true love.

A marquis organizes a matrimonial contest with the aim of enriching three spinsters.

François Donge, a rich industrialist and womaniser, meets a girl nicknamed Bébé who he marries. Ten years later, poisoned by his wife and dying in hospital, he recalls his married life and understands how his wife who adored him suffered from his many affairs and indifference.

An unhappy wife who has had a child by her lover lives a daily drama under the watchful eye of her husband who hates them both.

Renaud, a young student who is camping alone at the moment, has a dream one night, in which the woman of his dreams appears. When he wakes up the next morning, he cannot believe his eyes: the creature of the dream is there by the side of the road, in the flesh! The woman accepts to drive Renaud to Montargis but it is only after she has dropped him off there that he realizes that what he experienced for her was love at first sight. He then decides not to return to Paris but to try and find the wonderful stranger in Montargis. He discovers that the woman's name is Clara and that she is the member of a drama company.

Eugène, who works for Radio-Europe, is a bit dim-witted. He lives in a block of flats whose caretaker is Madame Motte, and the lady is in love with the young man. Just for laughs, Eugène's friends circulate on the air the rumor that Eugène has inherited millions of francs. It does not take long before a swarm of 'friends' start mixing with him. After a while, considering that the joke has lasted long enough, the jokers reveal the truth. Eugène immediately loses all his 'friends' but not he girl he loves. Even better, Eugène actually inherits a big sum of money. He who laughs last laughs best!

Evelyne, a judge's young wife, falls in love with Rémy while vacationing in Italy. Upon returning home, she must decide between telling her husband and continuing to see Rémy.

A singer who has become voiceless is forced to leave his wife and children. He will become famous again as a clown.

During Christmas night, two police officers make their nocturnal rounds, in their round they meet tramps, brawlers in a café, a naked man, a concierge, a sexton, revelers in a nightclub, and end by signing in their report to the police station.

The life of Vincent de Paul, the 17th-century author and priest who founded two religious orders.

Sylvain, sentenced to death, assures the visiting priest that his life could have been completely different, and invents different situations.

Marie Leroux, who is married to Charles, an honest, understanding country doctor, lives an uneventful, rather monotonous life.Her husband is a kind man but he does not give her any thrill or excitement. One day, Marie meets Olivier Dumas-Beaulieu, a handsome industrialist, who is in the process of leaving his fiancée Corinne, despite her being pregnant by him. It is easy for the confirmed womanizer he is, to seduce Marie, who very foolishly thinks she has found true love. Shortly afterward Charles is shot dead by Olivier while the two men were having a quarrel about Marie. The latter, who finds the corpse, believes her husband has committed suicide. Which is not the police's opinion and Marie is arrested and condemned to ten years in prison. Annihilated by such unfair treatment and, worse, by the separation from her beloved eight-year-old daughter, she still manages to survive and to serve her sentence.

Director of a music hall, the dubious Ribero, to save himself from bankruptcy, only hopes for the victory of his horse. An English lord enlists his crack Master Love in the race. Ribero will try to prevent its departure. He is thwarted in his dark projects by the lord's daughter, captain of a troop of girls, and by a wise and determined sportsman who does not hesitate, for the occasion, to become a jockey. Master Love wins the race, Ribero is confused, a few weddings are celebrated.

Claude, who temporarily replaces his father at the head of a department store, falls in love at first sight with a pretty female customer. He finds out that she is named Solange and that she is the goddaughter of Professor Hauteclerc, who runs a private psychiatric hospital. To come closer to the girl of his dreams, Claude has a crazy idea: he pretends to be mad so as to be placed in Hauteclerc's institution.

At the borders of the Saharan desert, the dramatic situation of a battalion of light infantry attacked by the enemy.

For sentimental reasons, Monsieur Imberger, a fifty-year-old, disappears. Everyone thinks he was murdered but repeatedly he reappears. Inspector Barfin takes care of this mystery...

A street singer becomes the star of the circus but his pal Armand shows him who his real friends are.

On the occasion of an auction organized for a charity party, a penniless man buys a kiss for a hundred thousand francs.

A gambler has the same name as a billionaire. Suddenly he gets lucky, finds love and wins 24 million.