In 1890 Paris, Moulin Rouge is a nightclub where crippled artist Toulouse-Lautrec feels like he fits in. In the following years, he meets two women who provide an opportunity for him to find true love.

Elsa Lundenstein is accused of having murdered her lover. The jury discusses the case vividly. All members are somehow prejudiced because of personal life experience and subsequently each member reads something different into the presented facts.

The film consists of seven roughly 15 minute episodes, each showing what will happen if one or more of the Ten Commandments will be broken: Jérome Chambard is warned that he will lose his job if he continues to swear; Françoise Beaufort enamored of a stripper calls on her only to find her married to a janitor who doesn't know what kind of dancing his wife performs; Denis, a Jesuit novice, leaves the order to avenge his sister's suicide, which was provoked by Garigny, who seduced her into prostitution and drug addiction; Philip buys a necklace for Micheline though he is bored with her; a young man find out that his real mother is not Madeleine, but actress Clarisse Ardant; Didier Marin, cashier of a bank, was fired by his boss; the Devil appears as a serpent for Jérome Chambard and the bishop are eating.

An aristocrat instigates divorce proceedings against his son-in-law, a commoner and the ex-owner of night club "La Vie de Plaisir".

Marie Leroux, who is married to Charles, an honest, understanding country doctor, lives an uneventful, rather monotonous life.Her husband is a kind man but he does not give her any thrill or excitement. One day, Marie meets Olivier Dumas-Beaulieu, a handsome industrialist, who is in the process of leaving his fiancée Corinne, despite her being pregnant by him. It is easy for the confirmed womanizer he is, to seduce Marie, who very foolishly thinks she has found true love. Shortly afterward Charles is shot dead by Olivier while the two men were having a quarrel about Marie. The latter, who finds the corpse, believes her husband has committed suicide. Which is not the police's opinion and Marie is arrested and condemned to ten years in prison. Annihilated by such unfair treatment and, worse, by the separation from her beloved eight-year-old daughter, she still manages to survive and to serve her sentence.

Fernand Sarrazin, who runs a nougat factory to perfection, is a happy bachelor, notwithstanding the acrimonious presence of his sister-in-law Julie. Love enters his life in the form of a young orphan, Cécilia, whom he saves from drowning, falls in love with and marries. The treacherous Julie uses a young pianist to lead Cecilia astray. She returns, however, repentant, after a short stay in Paris. Good Fernand forgives her, but when he learns of his sister-in-law's actions, he chases her out of his house.

Young, handsome, dashing but cynical, Octave Mouret arrives in Paris, determined to conquer the belles of the capital.

In an aero-naval base, a marine engineer who was about to deliver the name of a redoubtable spy is murdered. Shortly afterwards three different men appear on the crime scene, each of them claiming to be Monsieur Sylvain, the expected sleuth. But which of the three investigators is actually Sylvain? And what about this delightful young lady who arouses one of the police inspectors? Couldn't she be the murderous spy?

"Le Tambourin", a Montmartre nightclub, is on its way down. Although it can boast great performances by the alluring Les Bluebell Girls and by Jacques Hélian's lively Big Band the venue does not attract people anymore. Nightclub patrons now prefer the jazz cellars of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Taking this new taste into account, the staff of the "Tambourin" and Jacques Hélian decide to set up their own club, "La Pivoine Ecarlate". They are joined by Pâquerette, a flower vendor and amateur singer, and by Jean-Pierre Francis, an existentialist poet...

A doctor, leading an agreed life of the provincial petty bourgeoisie, falls in love with a young woman. As their relationship deepens, he becomes violently jealous and blames her for her dating and friendships.