At the turn of the century, an unusual woman refuses to become an object to be desired or played with. Instead she wants to succeed on the stage of politics in the Third Republic.
When Charles Le Braque learns that his boss' 17 years old daughter is pregnant, he fears that his 16 years old nice Joel from France, who's spending her vacation with them in Canada, might fall into the same trap. So he and his wife decide to give her the lecture of plants and bees... but it turns out that she's already well informed, gives them a lecture about simultaneous orgasms. She inspires the sexually repressed couple to start experimenting with "modern" forms of sex.
Jean, a married 40-year-old filmmaker, and his young working class lover, Catherine, engage in a circular series of spectacular blow-ups and tentative reunions, their mutual desire a fire that burns them again and again.
A teenage girl accuses her primary schoolteacher, Jean Doucet (Jacques Brel), of trying to rape her. The police and the mayor investigate, but Doucet denies the charges. Two other students come forward to reveal more of Doucet's misconduct – one confessing to be his mistress. Doucet faces trial and hard labor if convicted.
An accordionist playing in disreputable halls is mistaken for a gangster by a special envoy from the American crime syndicate in charge of investigating the French milieu. The American will prepare a hold-up with a gang of women specialized in scamming tourists. But the accordionist will make the hold-up fail and all the criminals will end up behind bars.
