A well-off young woman decides to become a nun, joining a convent that rehabilitates female prisoners. Through their program, she meets a woman named Thérèse who refuses any help because she says she was innocent of the crime she was convicted for. After being released from prison, Thérèse murders the actual perpetrator of the crime and comes to seek sanctuary in the convent.

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.

In France in 1946, the difficult return to civilian life of five deportees and prisoners of war after having lived through the hell of the Second World War.

It centres on the life of the entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre and his total devotion to studying insect behavior, travelling from Avignon to Paris, from Paris to his death in Sérignan. He is honoured by the French president Raymond Poincaré and his patience, obstinacy and knowledge are also recognised by Napoleon III, the publisher Charles Delagrave and the philosopher John Stuart Mill. They reach their climax in his book, Souvenirs entomologiques.

Raoul Morel, a shy young man without a fortune, is an instructor at a driving school. During a lesson, he is disturbed by the ravishing and capricious Lolita Perez, the wealthy daughter of a South American who, despite her father's opposition, wants to marry a seductive adventurer, Marcel d'Arcy, who covets her fortune. At his instigation, she plans to marry Raoul - a sham marriage - in order to gain possession of his fortune. She divorces him and remarries Marcel. But Lolita falls in love with Raoul, who has been warned of her machinations and refuses the marriage...

On prize-giving day, a few dunces recall various incidents that marked their school year.

Two families fight to stay in power. On one side, the Horatii, who rule Rome; on the other, the Curiatii, who rule Albe-la-longue. To escape the war, three brothers are chosen from each camp and face off in a fight to the death. A tragic confrontation with unexpected repercussions.

1948. Madeleine is the headmistress of a kindergarten in Ménilmontant. Dr Libois, the school doctor, is very close to her heart. When Rose, a new helper comes to the school, Libois is impressed at once by her understanding of the little ones and her dedication to them. Little by little, Libois grows fond of Rose while becoming estranged from Madeleine. He eventually marries Rose.

Muichkine, a young Russian prince, returns home to St. Petersburg from a mental institution, determined to spread decency and kindness in the harsh and cruel world. He becomes betrothed to an innocent young girl while trying to save a less-innocent woman from her own travail, but jealousy and his own naivete conjoin to bring about unimaginable tragedy.

A meeting between the Swedish/French Simone and the Norwegian Stein at a book convention in Frankfurt turns into something more. They keep contact by phone and cassettes, but it seems they don't dare to take the relationship any further.