While Louis XV is dying, the Dauphine of France, Marie-Antoinette, seduces a Swedish officer, Axel de Fersen, which pains her husband, the new King Louis XVI, who will know how to be generous when he learns of this deception.

Historical film directed and written by Sacha Guitry follows the the history of Paris from its founding through the significant events in the city's history.

For the Marquis Barbezieux de Saint-Rosay, nobility is important. If anything can comfort her, it's her family tree. In order to erase any doubt he invites in his castle a cousin of his established in Scotland, whom he instructs to bring him his titles of nobility. A first person introduces himself, calling himself his cousin, but it's not him. Then one, then two, then three false cousins ​​appear in turn. Will the real Saint-Rosay of Scotland eventually present itself?

Gilberte is a sixteen year old girl raised by her aunt and grandmother to be a demimondaine. But she's not ready for that yet, and spends her days in lessons and in teasing Mamita's old friend, the rich playboy Gaston LaChaille, and following his affairs from afar. But when Gaston throws off his latest mistress, it looks as if Gigi just might be ready to begin her destined career.

Inès, a gypsy, pregnant by a rich breeder who abandoned her, finds refuge with a band of smugglers and thieves, led by an old woman nicknamed "the Spider". It is among them that she raises her daughter, Dolores. But her past catches up with her when the wealthy landlord reappears in her life.

The son of the Comtesse de Brévannes dies. She, who has never wanted to meet her daughter-in-law and who wants to take care of her grandson, goes to their house under the guise of a governess.

Sophie de Réan, an unruly mischievous little girl grows up under the thumb of Mademoiselle, her strict governess. Following her mother's death, she is entrusted to Mme de Fleurville, her aunt, who at the same time hires Mademoiselle to further Sophie's education. A few years later, the little girl has blossomed into a lovely young lady. She is now in love with Paul, her cousin, who, unlike her, used to be a model child. Unfortunately Mademoiselle will not hear of a union between them. Instead she wants Sophie to marry Armand, the conceited son of Prefect Hugon. To make matters worse, Paul, the good boy, unexpectedly turns into a revolutionary, who defends the Republic on the barricades against Louis Napoléon's coup. Not being one of the victors, Paul is forced into exile. Will Sophie finally yield and accept the established order or will she react in her usual rebellious way and follow the one she loves ?

Jeanne De Pincret refuses to marry Viscount Haussy De Villefort, having discovered his frivolity. After a duel against the Duke De Montgobert, whom Louis XIV recommended to Jeanne, the king forced De Villefort to marry Jeanne, then sent her to war. Separated from her husband, Jeanne discovers that she loves him.

A rich peasant, Carvajan, seeks revenge on the castellan, Clairefont, with whom he had a serious conflict. Their respective children, Antoinette and Pascal, meet and fall in love with each other. Robert de Clairefont, Antoinette's brother, unjustly accused of murder, is defended and saved by Pascal. Finally, love, by uniting the son of one to the daughter of the other, will appease souls and reconcile families.

Fabienne believes herself to be cheated on by her husband Claude and divorces her. He leaves for America and does not return until eight years later. He then meets his daughter.

A well-off young woman decides to become a nun, joining a convent that rehabilitates female prisoners. Through their program, she meets a woman named Thérèse who refuses any help because she says she was innocent of the crime she was convicted for. After being released from prison, Thérèse murders the actual perpetrator of the crime and comes to seek sanctuary in the convent.

At the end of the 15th century, a man and a woman, posing as traveling minstrels, are sent by the Devil to a castle to seduce its inhabitants.

After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events the led him to the killing.