During World War II, two French civilians and a downed British Bomber Crew set out from Paris to cross the demarcation line between Nazi-occupied Northern France and the South. From there they will be able to escape to England. First, they must avoid German troops – and the consequences of their own blunders.

Turner, a black American soldier, is given three days leave in Paris. Not knowing what to do with himself, he goes to a nightclub where he meets a French girl named Miriam. Their romance blossoms, but their love affair is darkened by Turner's impending departure and the specter of racial prejudice.

In czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.

Mario, the head of the Mafia in France, has just been mortally wounded. His "companion" decides to find him a successor, before the New York "organization" appoints one. She instructs her two bodyguards to take on anyone who likes money, doesn't have any and, above all, doesn't want to work too hard - in short, "the average Frenchman"... They discover Léon Bonnet, a representative of "magic crosses". They send him gifts: champagne, weapons (a mistake...), a ring for his fiancée, and a meal worthy of the finest gourmets. In return, they take him to Mario's dying bedside, and have him sign over the estate. It's then that Leon, with his angelic good looks, restores order within the Mafia, surprising all his adversaries with his manners, and outwitting the police...

Two bank robbers, an old and a young, escape from prison to get to the hidden loot.

Marc, is a reporter in a tabloid. At the "Bongo Club", he photographs a young blond woman kissing a black man. This woman is the daughter of Senator Linden, head of the segregationist movement of USA.

The murder of a Parisian mobster starts a war within the world of organized crime.

A young priest speaks out against the Communist regime in Poland and is killed for it.

Expat American writer Henry Miller hustles his way through Paris in a series of amorous encounters while trying to find his literary voice.

Nada, named after a gang of Spanish anarchists, is a small, confused band of French terrorists. They kidnap the American ambassador after one of his regular visits to an exclusive brothel. The gang starts to quarrel amongst themselves as to the diplomat's fate, while the police purge suspects in their attempts to destroy the Nada faction. As the violence escalates on both sides, the States and the terrorists are forced to use one another's methods in an increasingly desperate and relentless conflict.