A man discovers he's no longer as close to his ear as he once was in this absurdist comedy. Jeff is minding his own business when a phonograph record tossed from a passing car accidentally cuts off his ear. The ear falls into traffic, gets stuck on the windshield of another vehicle, and begins a long, strange journey, passing from car to car and hand to hand across the country. Jeff, however, can still hear whatever his separated ear is picking up, and is trying to follow the sounds in hopes of catching up with his former body part. However, a doctor warns him he only has a few hours to find his ear, otherwise reattachment will be impossible; in the meantime, Jeff's former girlfriend wastes several of his precious minutes with a discussion about the notion of giving their relationship another try.

One evening, in a luxurious building in the centre of Paris, an armed woman bursts into the apartment of Adriano Rizzo, an actor who exploits his status to abuse young actresses. Later, the mysterious woman reveals her identity: Hélène de Saint-Amand, owner of the apartment. She intends to kill him to put an end to his sexual assaults.

Lulu from Sicily drives with his small rickety Fiat to Paris to fulfill his lifelong dream: he buys a red cabriolet. From the top of the Eiffel Tower he has to watch as his car is stolen by a man who intends to steal the Mona Lisa. In the course of a chase with the police, his car is completely wrecked. When getting back to it, the police takes Lulu for the thief and arrests him.

While chaos and the impending doom of World War II are just over the horizon, the members of an impoverished French family are occupied with their own concerns. Most notable among them are the romance of the teenaged girl with a young socialist and the boy's friendship with a German boy.

Ageing gangster Vincent works long nights and dreams of another life. When he is unexpectedly given responsibility for his teenage daughter, his life starts to change.