American and British tourists get caught up in political unrest in Haiti.

Martinique, in the early 1930s. Young José and his grandmother live in a small village. Nearly everyone works cutting cane and barely earning a living. The overseer can fine a worker for the smallest infraction. The way to advance is to do well in school. José studies hard and succeeds in an exam allowing him to attend school in the capital. With only a partial scholarship, the tuition is very costly. José and his grandmother move to Fort-de-France to make José's studies easier...

In a small Gallic village, tourists are regaled by street entertainers and brash prostitutes. One of the tourists, a black girl named Bessie, falls in love with local villager Bob, and he with her. Soon racial tensions erupt volcanically among tourists and townsfolk alike. All is forgiven when the respective parents of the hero and heroine save the village's water supply.

In the middle of a drought, Pétanqui - who is responsible for the distribution of food to the population - enjoys a good life, a nice house, lovers and an official car. His son returns from France with a Law degree, and although he does not approve of his father’s lifestyle, he decides to defend him in court when he is accused of embezzlement. His defence becomes a strong attack on civil servants and members of government who take advantage of their situation. After all, his father is the lesser evil of a state of generalized corruption.

The president of an African country is closely allied with European entrepreneurs for his own benefit and theirs. The sky falls on their heads when a political essay on "The Political Structures of Traditional Power" is published. To make matters worse, the military gets involved. The president, whose party ruled unchallenged (single-party system), finds himself under house arrest.

A rural teacher discovers the harsh realities of his South Africa.

A rich businessman in Senegal is cursed with crippling erectile dysfunction upon the day of his marriage to his third wife; the only cure is brutal public humiliation.

The life and death of Robert Moussombe, the leader of an unnamed African state. Moussombe is a fictionalized portrait of assassinated Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, and the film's events are a pastiche of the Congo Crisis in 1960s.