스페인 프랑코 정권을 전복시키기 위해 비밀공작을 벌이는 디에고는 노쇠한 좌파 혁명가다. 피곤에 지친 디에고는 조직의 일원인 마리안과 편안한 삶을 살고 싶어하지만 과격한 대학생 나딘과 만나면서 갈등을 겪는다. 레네 감독은 이 영화에서 직업 혁명가가 일상적인 삶과 직면했을 때 어떤 선택의 문제가 발생하는가를 보여준다.
Professor Louis Delage is a kidney transplant specialist. He is so good in his field that his peers nickname him the "great man". But one day, one of his patients die during surgery and Delage starts doubting. Is he actually such a great man? To fight desperation he decides to take in the deceased child while devoting more time to Florence, his hitherto neglected wife.
The romantic life of the head of a bandit gang, wanted by the police. Cartouche gets away with being deported to Louisiana after unmasking a plot by a Duke against the throne.
Jacques Herbelin is the faithful husband of Louise and the proud father of Cécile, a kind little girl. But Louise does not reciprocate her husband's affection and prefers to cheat on him in the arms of Marquis de Condottier. The latter is a sinister character who, not satisfied with being Herbelin's wife's lover, sets his heart on their daughter, who has now become a pretty young lady. Jacques can't take it anymore.