Cora Pearl, a demi-mondaine under the Second Empire, falls in love with a legitimist while she is the mistress of Jérôme Bonaparte, the cousin of Napoleon III.

An English gentleman himself causes his own burglary to better suppress the formidable gang which, after having murdered his brother, is now attacking his fortune.

Ginette is always squabbling with her mother and she cannot take it any more. One day, she asks Jim Ashbury to intervene and this is how the son of a wealthy lord gets involved in the life of a pretty Jane Doe. Charmed by Ginette, Jim invites her to a cruise on the Mediterranean. It does not take long before Cupid sends his arrows at the two young people but things are not so simple for all that. Jim indeed fears Ginette might want to marry him for money, which is totally wrong. Fortunately, Lord Ashbury manages to persuade his stubborn son of his error.

An honest civil servant learns about his wife’s infidelity. He pretends not to be aware of it and decides to start a businessman career. He soon becomes extremely wealthy and thinks he can win her back.

Perrichon, a well-off self-satisfied bourgeois, goes on holiday with his wife and his pretty daughter Henriette. He is more or less willingly followed by two young men, Armand Desroches et Daniel Savary, who both have fallen in love with Henriette after meeting her at a ball. The Perrichons's vacation will be eventful with, among other misadventures, two accidents (one real, the other fake) and the threat of a duel.

Small rentiers do not want their son to marry a young rich girl. They hijack letters and prevent meetings. But love wins. Defeated, the parents accept this union which shocked their petty bourgeois but honest spirit.

Désiré Chopin, hunter on foot and friend of François de Crecy, uses a thousand tricks to encourage the love between François and Gaby. Little Margoton is in love with Désire who disdains her. She becomes the darling of the battalion.

Two husbands claim to be Freemasons so they can go out at night. Where do they go, if not to the lodge, the Masonic lodge? In reality, one goes to visit a pretty and particularly welcoming concierge in his dressing room, and the other spends his evenings in the dressing room of a little music-hall actress.