To try solving the strange disappearances of 11 young Parisian women, the police obtain the services of Adrienne Charpentier, friend of the latest missing person.

A student from an elementary school accidentally breaks the glass roof of his school. His comrades decide to support it by working during the summer holidays in order to pay for reconstruction.

On the meandering Canal St. Martin, at the Parisian Hôtel du Nord, a nearly fatal gunshot separates a dejected young couple. But, amid a sad but beautiful panorama of lively characters, love has the final say. Can life be a fairy tale?

1938, France, Paris, at the Superior Conservatory of Dramatic Art ("Conservatoire Supérieur d'Art Dramatique"). The first-year entrance exams are in full swing. Many applicants, few accepted. Isabelle (Janine Darcey) is one of the few chosen. She joins former students from the second and third years, including François (Claude Dauphin) and Cécilia (Odette Joyeux). They attend the drama class run by Professor Lambertin (Louis Jouvet). The young people, passionate and eager to become comedians, clash in tumultuous love affairs, because by dint of acting, they imagine that life is a farce. François, for example, is in love with Isabelle, who also loves him, but is pursued by Cecilia, his former mistress... "Put art in your life and life in your art!"

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.

Antoine Mouret, an authoritarian restaurateur, is the head of a large family where, for reasons of interest, people only marry cousins. But some have other plans, Marcus especially when he meets a passing circus girl.

New Europe presidential candidate Etienne Alexis is a scientist promoting artificial insemination for social betterment and therapy to eliminate passion. To celebrate his engagement to a cousin, he hosts an aseptic picnic, where Mother Nature asserts herself. A shepherd's flute conjures a windstorm throwing Alexis together with the luscious Nénette, a farm lass who, although unimpressed with men, wants to have a baby.

The director of a private institution is the father of seven charming young girls. He has money worries. A rich bachelor, still young, a few years ago advanced him a large sum of money. He makes frequent visits to his debtor; the poor father, as mediocre a psychologist as he is a poor businessman, hammers himself in his head, not guessing that the visitor is reluctant to make his choice between the seven sisters.

1824 in Issoudun. A bourgeois, Rouget, lives as a husband and wife, La Rabouilleuse, who holds him in her power. The old man's nephew, ex-Colonel Philippe Bridau of the Imperial Guard, swears to hunt the intruder.

The young King Boris of Neustria, who has followed his family in their exile in London, falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy American businessman. The latter, however, will only approve the union if Boris gives up royalty for the business world.