Georges Gauthier is an electrician who lives with his mother and his sister Madeleine. He is the son of a womanizing singer who made his mother miserable. For all that, Georges is attracted to show business all the more as he falls in love with Jeanne, the daughter of singer Lormel. Georges is spotted by Cartier, the manager of the Folies Concert and makes his debut as a singer under the assumed name of Jean Papillon.
Perseguido por la policía, François (Jean Gabin) se refugia en una casa. Mientras está rodeado, va recordando cómo los conflictivos hechos de los últimos días lo han conducido hasta la apurada situación en la que se encuentra; su pasión por la florista Françoise (Jacqueline Laurent), su compleja relación con la prostituta Clara (Arletty) y el asesinato de Valentin (Jules Berry), un extraño personaje relacionado con ambas mujeres.
Claire and Jean are lovers, but Claire's father opposes this union, because Jean is the son of a woman he once knew. Jean becomes a great singer, but doesn't forget Claire.
In the Camargue, a herdsman has just become engaged to a young local girl when his heart is troubled by a stranger who is playing the comedy of love for him. After this disappointment, he resumes the interrupted idyll.
A cabaret singer in Barcelona sacrifices her feelings for an exiled young Frenchman who had been falsely accused of a crime, when the sister of the real culprit seeks the exile out.
His aunt hopes to make this young aristocrat an honored soldier. But the colonel has it out for him.Will the new recruit be able to adapt to military life?