The fascinating story of a man destined to be only a son of and who sought all his life to become "someone" by getting rid of the overwhelming image of his genius as a father, the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Cashier Maurice Legrand is married to Adele, a terror. By chance, he meets Lucienne, "Lulu", and make her his mistress. He thinks he finally met love, but Lulu is nothing but a streetwalker, in love with Dede, her pimp. She only accepts Legrand to satisfy Dede's needs of money.

Célestin, the organist of a convent, has written and composed a light operetta under the name of Floridor. One day, the Mother Superior asks him to chaperone one of the boarders, Denise de Flavigny, who is returning home to get married. Now, Denise, for all her goody goody looks, soon proves as saucy as can be. Things get even more complicated when Célestin starts courting Corinne, the star of his operetta, to the great displeasure of a commander of dragons, the young woman's lover. Worse, the latter is none other than the Mother Superior's brother... To say nothing of Lieutenant Fernand de Champlatreux, who happens to fall in love with Denise, his fiancée that he has never seen before...!

A professional female thief figures out an original way to steal a precious necklace: she takes a gullible jeweler to a psychiatrist, poses as his wife and passes him off as a lunatic. Dr. Schwartz falls into the trap and has the poor jeweler committed to a mental hospital. Meanwhile, the thief lays hands on the necklace and vanishes into thin air.

Pierre and Georges both love Gretel who, in turn, is in love with Georges. Georges falls in love with another, Dolly, but the lover of the latter threatens to stop supporting him. Georges ends up finding Gretel, who forgives him, while Pierre steps aside to ensure their happiness.