1871. Roger Laroque accuses himself of a crime he did not commit to save his mistress, Julia de Noirville, from dishonor. He escapes from prison and is considered dead for fourteen years. Then he returns in the guise of a rich American in order to unmask the real murderer.

Marceline, the young wife of the florist Jean, can't help flirting with other men, but her brother Clo-Clo takes the poor husband's side against his sister.

A widower sends his son Dédé to boarding school, falls in love with a young woman and gradually neglects the child, not out of disaffection but because of routine. The little boy is helpless: he feels he has been completely forsaken - Fortunately, things improve: Dédé ends up finding a new mummy.

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.

The error of an examining magistrate forever tears apart a happy and united family.

An honest worker is unjustly accused of murder. The culprit promises him to give his son a good education if he allows himself to be condemned.

A commander who had devised helpful defenses for his country kills a spy who'd tried to entrap him.The officer's young wife who had been thinking of leaving him for a minister, rallies to his side.

A poor woman forced to sew in a brothel for a living, a museum guard whose daughters party, an old lady with a fiery heart, and a teacher whose daughter is dying of tuberculosis, live in the same building and everyone dreams of love.