In early twentieth-century Brittany, two peasants marry, have a son, and live in traditional Breton ways: three generations under one roof, a division of labor between the sexes, elders' stories at night, politics and religion during their little free time. Times are hard: la Chienne du Monde drives some to suicide; Ankou (death) is close at hand. Pierre is born into this republican family, his lyric childhood interrupted by the outbreak of war and his father's conscription. He learns his catechism and, as a child of a Reds, also reveres school. His grandfather and father often put him on their shoulders, giving him a ride on the horse of pride.

Stephane (Victor Lanoux) is the mayor of a small village. He is also the manager of the tannery which provides the inhabitants with work. In a fit of anger, he kills his wife (Edith Scob). A judge (Jean Carmet) tries to prove his culpability, but it's not an easy task, because there is a political and social pressure.

A hatter in a provincial town (Michel Serrault) leads the life of a respectable citizen but is in fact a serial murderer. The only person to suspect this is his neighbour the tailor (Charles Asnavour).

Martin is a nurse in a private clinic in Paris. The victim of a serious concussion, an unidentified casualty, arrives in the emergency room one night. He is operated on immediately. When he wakes up, half-unconscious, he tells Martin a confused story about stealing jewels from a maharajah visiting Marseille... before falling into total amnesia. Real and fake policemen interrogate Martin, gangsters kidnap him to get him to reveal precious information, but... the nurse keeps his mouth shut!

Their feats of arms in Africa are worth to Phil, Jeannot and Gerard to be sent on a special mission in Algeria. Held captive by the Fellaghas, they manage to escape and are congratulated.

Gaston Bellus, is the director of a textile house, and the research laboratory makes a sensational discovery: the elastic fabric. This new discovery is used to manufacture new modern stretchable bathing suits. His daughter Clementine, enters the beauty pageant to represent France for the swimsuit launch. But scandal ensues when the public soon discover, the photos of the event in which this new revolutionary material is completely invisible on photographs & live television.

A story about a guy who still lives with his mother and sells some really awful alcohol to bartenders. The only way for him to do this is to cry and invent himself an awful life. Then he meets the beautiful woman whose goal in life is to sleep with the less exciting guys on Earth.

A drunken, self-destructive woman called Betty wanders into a Parisian bar where she meets middle-aged alcoholic Laure. Laure decides to take care of Betty. Recovering in a hotel room, Betty begins to recount to Laure the story of her bourgeois life and her unhappy and unfaithful marriage.

Jean-Arthur has been working as a clerk in a travel agency. One day, he, along with his colleague comes to a brilliant idea: what if I offer tourists real extreme recreation? So the group of tourists land on a deserted island with no food, no shelter, nothing.