Rejecting the union of her daughter Brigitte with a modest worker, Madame Magnin invents an adultery for the lover, then introduces Brigitte to a good-looking man working on the famous RTF entertainment show 36 Chandelles. The show ultimately seals the reunion of the two estranged young lovers. The story features a parade of music-hall stars from the era: Charles Trenet, Charles Aznavour, Georges Guétary, Juliette Gréco, Roger Pierre and Jean-Marc Thibault, Fernand Raynaud, Georges Ulmer and many more.

A small-scale cabaret troupe is touring the provinces. One afternoon while canoeing, Monique Darzel, one of the troupe's singers, spots an angler whose resemblance to Fernand Raynaud strikes her. She discusses this with Jean Duroc, the troupe's director, who laments the meagre revenues his show is raking in. He then had the idea of meeting this fisherman to convince him to imitate Fernand Raynaud in his shows. It turns out that the Fernand Raynaud impersonator is in fact Fernand Raynaud himself, who has come for a week's incognito vacation in the provinces. Raynaud is finally persuaded to play the novice comedian, in order to further develop the script for his next film, Les cabotins à travers les âges.

Julien Brûlebois, a brave peasant from Auvergne, learns that he has been summoned to Strasbourg to collect an inheritance. Amazed by the operation of the bus that takes him from the station to his notary's home, he decides to buy it. What follows is a bewildering chase between the agents of the Strasbourg transport authority, the capitalists, the naive peasant and his lucid, pretty fiancée.

Paris, 1956. Everything is going smoothly for Roger, married to Denise, and Paul, married to Monique, until the day they win a house in a radio contest. The difficulties of living together and the intrusion of their parents-in-law lead to a falling out.

Shy, timorous bank clerk, Fernand Jérôme, prevents -unwillingly of course - a gang led by "Le Grand J" from robbing the "Crédit Populaire", where he works. Having become a hero out of the blue, this new status allows him to woo Renée, the daughter of chief inspector Merlerin. What Merlerin does not know is that the man he has been trying to arrest for years, "Le Grand J" is in fact Joseph Jérôme, Fernand's father, who has disappeared for years...

The tramp Fernand and his dog Brigadier discover some extraordinary jewels in a bag lost in a ditch. Brigadier, who doesn't like being mistaken for a dog, doesn't believe in the authenticity of the jewels. Then, discovering the owner, he introduces Fernand to the big wide world. Ghislaine Lafont-Dubreuilh, the daughter of the found jewels, sure of her fiancé, whom she neglects, is only concerned with the tramp's future. Her introduction to politics, boxing and wrestling leads to as many failures for the tramp as successes for Fernand Raynaud in his repertoire. Finally, the tramp becomes chaplinesque, restoring the fiancé to his belle's heart and taking only the English chambermaid on the road.