Fred Leroy is a wealthy industrialist, part of a large family-owned corporation. Fred has fallen for Annette, a comely cabaret bartender. He proposes to her, much to the horror of his family, which considers Annette and her unsophisticated father far below their caste. The family convinces Fred to give up the girl in exchange for increased position and income in the company. But Fred's lapse is momentary, and he again pursues Annette. But she, by this time, has learned of his erstwhile agreement and has agreed to marry someone else.

Before the Battle is the English-language title of this espionage melodrama. The first half of the film takes place aboard a French cruising ship, steaming through dangerous waters during WWI. Among the passengers is heroine Jeanne (Annabella), who was once in love with first-officer D'Artelles (Robert Vidalin) but he now seems strangely preoccupied. It turns out that the ship is on a secret mission, which ultimately dooms the vessel to a Lusitania-like death. After the sinking, Captain De Corlaix (Victor Francen) faces a court-martial, and it is at this point that the film clarifies several baffling plot points. Despite its complexity, the story is fairly believable, with the exception of the grafted-on romantic subplot.

Debt-ridden painter Michel is overcome with joy at discovering that he has just won 1 million florins in the Dutch lottery, but almost immediately, he discovers that his softhearted girlfriend, Béatrice, has given away his jacket containing the winning ticket to an elderly petty thief. Soon Michel, Beatrice and Michel's artistic rival, Prosper, are hurtling through the streets of Paris on the trail of the missing jacket.

A British commando is on a one-man raid to destroy a bomb factory in Nazi-occupied France. He must enlist the aid of French farmers to complete his mission.

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?

Bob Sharkey, an instructor of would-be spies for the Allied Office of Strategic Services, becomes suspicious of one of the latest batch of students, Bill O'Connell, who is too good at espionage. His boss, Charles Gibson confirms that O'Connell is really a top German agent, but tells Sharkey to pass him, as they intend to feed the mole false information about the impending D-Day invasion.

Young love blossoms between a salesgirl and a handsome man on the French Riviera.

An unemployed youth pretends to be the long lost son of an elderly industrialist but after helping the man with his business decides to confess his dishonesty and go away.

The daughter of a murdered financier works as a jewelry salesperson while she tracks her father's colleagues who plotted against him.