An old Montmartre building with countless tenants: on the seventh floor, a Russian painter, Igor, lives in his art and dreams, whose paintings express kindness and indulgence; two floors below, a poor cabaret singer, Seraphita, poses for her neighbor when she feels too lonely and abandoned; further down, the Prunelle family lives, where the father and mother, inveterate drunks, indulge in drink and give their eleven-year-old son. Tique, who seems to have become indifferent, the spectacle of atrocious domestic scenes. By the time the film begins, Father Prunelle, drunker than ever, has chased Tique's mother away with insults...

At a construction site, an ex-con tries to sabotage the marriage of a man who married his fiancée while he was in prison.

One morning in August 1944, the inhabitants of a French village are celebrating their premature liberation. The festivities are interrupted by the arrival of an exhausted, leaderless German detachment. A few kilometers away, the inhabitants of the village of Muzière negotiate with the Germans and agree to a truce. But the arrival of a Wehrmacht captain, anxious to regain control of the men, puts an end to this fragile peace process. The captain suggested meeting the Americans and surrendering to regular troops rather than civilians. The inhabitants of Muzière, believing the truce to be broken, fire on the Germans and, on this misunderstanding, the guns start talking again.

In a small circus campaign, the act of Valentine, the dwarf, is one of the highlights of the show. But then one night, he grew suddenly and turns into a handsome young man of six feet tall. First mad with joy, he will face harsh reality of normality.