One night in Paris all the clocks and watches of the whole world stopped except that of a small professor.

British detective Tim Frazer hunts a myserious murderer who kills smugglers in the city of Antwerpen.

A small-scale cabaret troupe is touring the provinces. One afternoon while canoeing, Monique Darzel, one of the troupe's singers, spots an angler whose resemblance to Fernand Raynaud strikes her. She discusses this with Jean Duroc, the troupe's director, who laments the meagre revenues his show is raking in. He then had the idea of meeting this fisherman to convince him to imitate Fernand Raynaud in his shows. It turns out that the Fernand Raynaud impersonator is in fact Fernand Raynaud himself, who has come for a week's incognito vacation in the provinces. Raynaud is finally persuaded to play the novice comedian, in order to further develop the script for his next film, Les cabotins à travers les âges.

Set during World War II in France, the story begins when a resistance fighter is given shelter in an asylum by a friend who manages the institution. Soon after, the manager is arrested by the Gestapo, which gets the resistance fighter involved. He finds the informer who set his friend up and kills him. But then no one will believe his story about the informer and he becomes desperate enough to start losing his own mental balance. A young doctor and the daughter of one of the inmates help him keep it together, but he knows he cannot continue like this for long.

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.

Vallois, a vice inspector for the Paris police, takes special interest in the plight of drug-addicted Lucky (Najda Tiller), whom he considers to be more victim than criminal. Taking it upon himself to wean Lucky away from narcotics, Vallois also wins her love -- and, incidentally, smashes the dope ring responsible for her addiction.

In the elegant nightclub of Corsican Luciano, known as Lucky, "Les Naturistes", big sums are gambled at the Longchamp races. Lucky not only "welcomes" the new dancers, he also collects the stakes entrusted to him and personally plays the horses recommended to him by Max, a former convict. But Bramati, Lucky's ex-partner, doesn't forgive Max for double-crossing him and has him shot.

Elvire, Nathalie and Christine, three young ladies with a proven track record, are called in by the Secret Service to retrieve coveted papers concerning a new explosive. Introduced to a fearsome environment thanks to a female helper, they face kidnappings, play a double game, toil endlessly, lend helicopters and finally triumph, smiling, after a breathtaking fight.

In Marseille, crime squad captain Dominique fights against racketeers and tries to put a young man back on the right track.

In Montmartre, prostitutes and neighborhood pimps meet in Victor's bar. One of them, Charly, one day falls in love with the beautiful Laurence, a girl who honestly earns her life as a singer. But Fernand, the local boss, sees a bad eye his acolyte out of the ranks to lead a quiet life in the company of his sweetheart. He provokes the jealousy of Jessy, mistress of Charly. The latter, stung, does not intend to leave without fighting his lover take the tangent. She ruminates her revenge so much that she ends up shooting Charly ...

A Parisian reporter tries to exonerate a fugitive neighbor of charges he murdered his wife.

Without seeming to touch it, journalist Trupeau is interested in the doings of Mireille, a jewelry store saleswoman. A certain Jojo is hanging around the young girl, and not for the right reasons, but to pull off a "heist". Although one of his men betrays him and has to be shot, Jojo succeeds. The police investigate, question and pursue Mireille. Exasperated and disillusioned, the pretty salesgirl shoots Jojo. Fortunately, the journalist is there to prove that she's as white as an ermine. And the ch timents rain down on the culprits.

Marguerite secretly loves a novelist whose face no one knows. The jealous husband sets up a scheme by asking an actor friend to play the novelist and behave in an execrable way in order to disgust his wife. But things never turn out the way you think they will.