The story of how the people of Paris cope with the strains and struggles of war, from the siege of the city by the Prussians during the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 to the invasion by the Germans in World War II.
The life of Thérèse Martin, who entered the Carmel at the age of 15, in 1888, under the name of Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus, died nine years later, and canonized in 1925.
A washerwoman works so long for the same bosses that she gets to like their young son very much. One day she is unjustly accused of robbery, and dismissed. She suffers in her loneliness, until the day she hears that the boy is terminally ill, and there's no medical hope for him. She comes back and sits by him, praying to Saint Thérèse de Lisieux - and the miracle happens.
A poor woman forced to sew in a brothel for a living, a museum guard whose daughters party, an old lady with a fiery heart, and a teacher whose daughter is dying of tuberculosis, live in the same building and everyone dreams of love.
A widower sends his son Dédé to boarding school, falls in love with a young woman and gradually neglects the child, not out of disaffection but because of routine. The little boy is helpless: he feels he has been completely forsaken - Fortunately, things improve: Dédé ends up finding a new mummy.
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.
Poor Arlette is married off by her well meaning mother to a supposed count who turns out to be a fake and a crook.Arlette seeks out the real count, to whom in name technically she is married.
