A horrific and, on the face of it, incomprehensible murder has just been committed on the unsympathetic person of a loan shark. The victim's body is found lifeless, but the circumstances of his death are far from clear. For want of anything better to go on, the police immediately suspect a penniless gentleman who had the bad idea and misfortune to be present at the time of the crime. The police don't take the time to look for other possible suspects, and are not at the end of their surprises. A dark story seems to lie behind this imbroglio of incoherent facts.

Madeleine Lebeau, a woman who charges for her easy virtue, has a plan that has some of her customers paying more than others; she tells them she is pregnant and, to avoid complications, the men pay her money and don't hang around for the birth. Yves Furet, a shiftless gambler, who not only encourages her in her business ventures but is also her fiancée, shares the fruit of her non-labor. She latches onto a wealthy widower, Henri Vilbert, who throws her a curve-ball when, after she tells him she is pregnant, he is overjoyed as he has fallen in love with her and is looking forward to becoming a father. She plays along for a while, but becomes ashamed when she sees how Vilbert is devoting his whole life to a child that she isn't carrying. She fakes a miscarriage and his kindness makes her feel guilty and she confesses, but he doesn't believe her. So she tries another plan.

It centres on the life of the entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre and his total devotion to studying insect behavior, travelling from Avignon to Paris, from Paris to his death in Sérignan. He is honoured by the French president Raymond Poincaré and his patience, obstinacy and knowledge are also recognised by Napoleon III, the publisher Charles Delagrave and the philosopher John Stuart Mill. They reach their climax in his book, Souvenirs entomologiques.

Fates of multiple otherwise disconnected characters intertwine miraculously under the sky of Paris. And it all happens in one day.

Thanks to a bit of string-pulling by his aunt, Jean du Bois d'Ombelles, a young recruit who has blue blood in his veins, hopes to go through a nice and comfortable military service. Unfortunately he becomes Corporal Bourrache's pet aversion. Nevertheless, against all expectations, Jean ends up taking a liking for military life.

Madame Husson and her circle of holier-than-thou ladies (including an old maid Madame Cadenas)are looking for a chaste and pure girl who will win a hefty sum.

A policeman receives a fabulous inheritance. Thanks to this, he conquers the heart of Queen Marika. But crooks deprive him of his financial means

Lovers since childhood, Sylvain and Angelina do not see their lives separated from each other. However, Sylvain is sent to war and the young woman desperately awaits his return. Years pass and the latter is forced by her father to marry Jean-Marie, a man she does not love. One day, while Angelica and her family are climbing in the Alps, an avalanche sweeps them away. Safe and sound, she comes face to face with her childhood sweetheart, Sylvain.

Léon Ménard, the village verger, is a decent young man whose hobby is to play the accordion. One day he is fired for having accompanied Mary Pinson, a singer deemed scandalous by the right-minded parishioners. Blinded by his love for Mary, Léon follows her to Paris where he becomes her plaything. With Mary's complicity, a gang of swindlers make him the puppet proprietor of a night club. But Léon can't live in a fool's paradise forever and soon finds himself on the street, forsaken and desperate. Luckily, the manager of a circus notices him while he is busking and he hires Léon at once. Not only will success come to him but he will win the love of sweet Solange.

A trio of criminals gradually become entangled in theft and crime. Serge is arrested, his mistress, Hélène, and his accomplice, Michel, both become lovers, try to exonerate him and use false fingerprints first, then after Serge's conviction, gloves covered with the same fingerprints of the prisoner.

Stage actress Marianne has decided to give up her career to marry wealthy nobleman Marquis Antoine de Fontaines. As a wedding present, Antoine gives his future wife a precious diamond necklace, which is coveted by a gang of crooks. Jean, one of them, is given the mission to approach Marianne and steal the necklace from her. The only trouble is that when he meets her, she recognizes him as the man she once loved.

A father wants to try by all means to avenge the death of his son, a test pilot, whose responsible is the attractive female star of a Parisian cabaret.

A little town erupts in turmoil about the construction of a public urinal. The army is sent in to restore order, but the military add to the confusion by getting involved with the local women.

Augustin, the bashful but model secretary of Fontange,a tyrannical industrialist, is desperately in love with Christiane,his boss's daughter. Of course Daddy will never allow. On the contrary he wants to force his daughter to marry his business partner, a single man, whose money would be a welcome help. To escape such an unfortunate lot, Christiane must find a subterfuge. The solution is Bichon, the baby that Jacques, her younger brother, is supposed to have had from a certain Loulou. By claiming that the baby is hers and that Augustin is the father, she hopes to compel her father not to marry a man she does not love.

Emile is a French film producer at the beginning of the century. One of his friends leaves his daughter Lucette in his house, when he is starting a tour through France. Emile falls in love with her. Problems starts when his younger friend Jacques come back from military service and after complaining his misfortune with women, follows Emile's advice in starting affairs with women and he meets Lucette.

On his way to Paris, Casanova keeps on collecting female conquests, does not shy away from duels and gets into many a colorful adventure. Once in the capital, the fearless knight saves the honor of a great lady, conquers the niece of his implacable enemy but courts disaster for love of Coraline, a faithless opera dancer.

In the studio where the famous director Eric Von Berg reigns, Pierre Vanier, the male star of the film and the lover of Berg's muse, dies while rehearsing a scene. Over the course of a tangled investigation, the culprit is unmasked. This honest dresser is the adoptive mother of Vanier's wife, too unhappy with such a husband. The inspector, moved, concludes a suicide.

Anne-Marie meets three men bearing the first name of Ludovic. Each of them has a very different character than the other two. The young woman will find great love with one of them.

Cecile, a young girl who goes to the offices of the Judicial Police several times in a row to complain about nightly visits to the apartment she occupies with her aunt, is not taken seriously by the police until she the day she is found murdered.

The strength of a couple's fascination with airplanes and flight is to the detriment of their family

Bastien and Furet are a journalist and a photographer working together as a team on the newspaper 'L'Echo du Jour'. Just as they are about to go off on a weekend break with Micky, their boss's secretary, they are sent to a crime scene to report the murder of a Russian named 'le Moujik'.

In Paris in 1887, Irène works as a governess to Douce, the grand-daughter of the dowager Countess de Bonafé. Douce believes she is in love with Fabien, the handsome manager of the estate. However she cannot hope to marry him because of their class difference. Douce's widowed father, the Count de Bonafé, has a wooden leg, and is infatuated with Irène. Douce discovers that Fabien is planning to flee to Quebec with Irène, and also finds out that the Count has asked Irène to marry him. So Douce tells Fabien this and convinces him to run away with her, causing consternation in the family.

Hector and Odette Dupuis' car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, but not far from a luxury hotel. The couple are well off but, being miserly, Odette is determined to keep her budget tight. Fortunately for her, the hotel offers rooms for domestics costing only 35 francs, so she decides to pass her husband as her chauffeur. As far as she is concerned, Odette presents herself as Baroness de Garches and takes a 250 franc room. But their stay soon becomes complicated. For instance, Palureau, a widower with five daughters who is planning to remarry, starts courting the 'baroness'. And that is not all since at the same time Angèle, a chambermaid, makes advances to Hector ! To make matters worse, Ferdinand, Angèle's boyfriend, decides to get even with Hector, his 'rival'. The jealous guy steals a jewel from a guest and has poor Hector accused of the theft.

Hector and Odette Dupuis' car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, but not far from a luxury hotel. The couple are well off but, being miserly, Odette is determined to keep her budget tight. Fortunately for her, the hotel offers rooms for domestics costing only 35 francs, so she decides to pass her husband as her chauffeur. As far as she is concerned, Odette presents herself as Baroness de Garches and takes a 250 franc room. But their stay soon becomes complicated. For instance, Palureau, a widower with five daughters who is planning to remarry, starts courting the 'baroness'. And that is not all since at the same time Angèle, a chambermaid, makes advances to Hector ! To make matters worse, Ferdinand, Angèle's boyfriend, decides to get even with Hector, his 'rival'. The jealous guy steals a jewel from a guest and has poor Hector accused of the theft.

For 15 years after Waterloo, a baron refuses to accept the defeat. He reluctantly marries one of 2 Bourbon sisters but lands up dueling with the wife's former lover. Finally he gets a chance to prove himself again in battle.

In the village of Sableuse, the local manor has been bought out by a nouveau riche, Emile Cousinet. When his wife Lisette, a former music hall actress, flees to Paris with young Pierre de Sableuse, Cousinet asks Father Pellegrin, the village vicar, to bring the lost sheep back home.

An average worker who feels downtrodden at work and home, dreams of becoming a dictator. His aunt has her own fantasy that the love-of-her-life, a fairground magician, will return to her once more.