L'avocat de la défense
A scientist who have discovered how to turn salt water into petrol dies before he has revealed his formula. By mistake it's assumed that his assistant knows it although he does not.
The priest
On the very day of his wedding, Valentin Le Barroyer sees the one he was to marry fly away. Hélène has always loved her cousin André, to the great displeasure of her aunt who had combined the failed marriage. The two lovers take refuge in the Dordogne at the home of Hélène's grandmother who believes them to be really husband and wife. Valentin finds the young couple too late, he only has to console himself with a friend of Hélène's.
Le roi
Following a broadcast on the radio, each of the listeners remembers these "little nothings" (the title is borrowed from a play by Mozart), which have often changed their lives. Each of these stories told will prove that a tiny detail in life can change an entire destiny.
(uncredited)
Um professor parisiense conta a história da famosa avenida de Paris, a Champs-Élysées, desde o seu início em 1617 como estrada cortando a mata traçada por Marie de Médicis até os tempos atuais, passando pelo seu período esplendor burguês sob Napoleão III.
The gratuitous murder of his father and the misery of the people, aggravated by a succession of bad harvests, lead Gaspard, a great admirer of Mandrin and blacksmith by profession, to revolt. With his companion Samplan, he finds himself at the head of a handful of soldiers dissatisfied with their fate and a band of brigands. They steal money from the rich to give it to the poor, like highwaymen, vindicators with a big heart. In their eyes, things cannot go on like this, in this country which seems given over to the decadence of the nobility and the whims of an indolent king. Gaspard and his troupe are responsible for making it known.
Suzanne de Villiers, an illegitimate daughter of a noble family, has a lot of difficulty getting the people of the "high" to accept her feelings for her tutor, the Viscount of Ceran...
Georges Vinot nicknamed Bouboule, a colorful but naive Parisian, falls prey to a gang of diamond thieves. Not only do they manipulate him into smuggling stolen precious stones into Senegal but they have bought life insurance on his head, which means they are prepared to do anything to liquidate him. But Bouboule succeeds in thwarting all their traps and eventually decides to settle down in a Senegalese village, of which he becomes... king!
During a transvestite ball, a young provincial meets Fanny Legrand. A great love is born between them. Later, the young man learns that Fanny was a great coquette. He leaves her, he comes back, he forgives. But when he embarks for America, Fanny does not follow him.
A woman suffers ill repute when she deserts her husband for a fling with an adventurer and gives the lover jewelry to pay the hotel bill. Will the husband be understanding and forgive her?
After he is thought dead, a painter who had no success before suddenly becomes a man of repute, and a statue is even prepared in his honor.
Felloux
An assistant pharmacist in the South of France , Blaise works for Mrs. Pinède, a well-endowed hot-blooded woman who has developed a crush on him, and her husband ... who hasn't! One day, Blaise meets Felloux, a rich man who is convalescing in Cassis. Felloux takes a liking to Blaise and decides to offer him a perfect day in Juan-les-Pins. Gambling in the casino, Blaise wins an astronomical sum. A new life seems to open to him but not for long. Indeed he loses all, but not before he has given a beautiful necklace to a young woman.
A woman who is the mistress of a well off antiquarian receives a visit from a younger man. Is her lost son from long ago?
Self