The film is a 125-minute, black-and-white biography of French priest and diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838), who served for 50 years under five different French regimes: the Absolute Monarchy, the Revolution, the Consulate, the Empire, and the Constitutional Monarchy. Its title comes from one of the main historical nicknames for Talleyrand, that he shares with demon king Asmodeus and English poet Lord Byron.

Joe Grant, a light-skinned African American, heads to a small Southern town to investigate the lynching death of his brother. He draws the attention of a gorgeous heiress whom he learns may have been involved in the killing.

Didier Méreuil, affectionately called Poliche, is in love with Rosine, a beautiful girl, so he does everything to please her. She does not love him, and accepts a seductive airplane pilot who proposes to her. One day, she discovers that the funny man is just a front behind which there is a serious Didier. She will try to make up and live with him - but the gap between them is already too large.

A record seller, and not very serious, Henry spends his nights in a cabaret where there is a Slavic prince in exile. His resemblance to the Prince of Palestria makes him designated to replace the young man who prefers to stay in Paris. And Henry takes with him the one he loves.

In 1914, students living in a boarding house are disturbed by a young woman. On the eve of being called up, one of them declares his love for her. She abandons herself to someone who may not come back.

A scout leader enlists a friend of hers who broke off her engagement because of the young man's ruin. Both try to instill in the young boys entrusted to them a sense of duty and honor.

A young lord who has abandoned his pregnant mistress hires his son, twenty years later, as secretary. He will try to fix his mistake.

Phémie comes to work as a maid in the Chaloupié household. An article and a photograph in the newspaper convince the Chaloupiés that their new servant is in fact none other than Miss Arabella Machefeller, the daughter of the celebrated American millionaire, looking for some worthy people with whom to share her fortune.

Edwige Feuillère and Pierre Richard-Willm star in director Jacques de Baroncelli's adaptation of the Balzac novella The Duchesse de Langeais, which tells the tale of a Parisian socialite who is romantically pursued by a Napoleonic war hero. With a screenplay by Jean Giraudoux.

Bernard Lefrancois is a prosperous farmer on the River Marne, while his neighbor is impoverished. Lefrancois objects strongly to the romance between his son and the neighbor's daughter, but it continues in secret. WWI begins and the son becomes an aviator with the French army, and the unwed girl presents Lefrancois with an unexpected grandchild. The German army occupies the area, and the girl is serving France as a spy and securing information needed by the French to drive out the Germans. While his son is engaged in air-combat against the Germans, and the unwed mother of his grandchild is serving as a spy against their country's enemy, Lefrancois also joins the battle as a soldier.