The film follows four families, with different nationalities (French, German, Russian and American) but with the same passion for music, from the 1930s to the 1960s. The various story lines cross each other time and again in different places and times, with their own theme scores that evolve as time passes. The main event in the film is the Second World War, which throws the stories of the four musical families together and mixes their fates. Although all characters are fictional, many of them are loosely based on historical musical icons (Édith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Herbert von Karajan, Glenn Miller, Rudolf Nureyev, etc.) The Boléro dance sequence at the end brings all the threads together.

A confirmed bachelor, a council employee from a small village, is fascinated by a refined schoolteacher.

A love story or a tale of the resistance, this poignant movie tells both the haunting story of a French resistance cell in Lyon but also the love of Lucie Aubrac for her husband...

Emmanuel Brémont, a ten-year-old boy, suffers day after day the destructive madness of his mother. The young woman, a cashier in a supermarket, hates her son and does not hesitate to tell him. One Friday evening, Madame Brémont decides to go for a weekend. Emmanuel, on the other hand, will be waiting for his mother in the apartment, locked in double turn in the kitchen cupboard.

A young journalist (Lespert) helps the French President compile his memoirs.

On the day Jean Gabin dies, a kidnaper who also takes a fortune in jewels heisted from Cartiers murders Simon Verini's wife. (Simon was fencing the jewels for a youthful gang who robbed Cartiers; he suspects them of the murder.) He's framed for the theft and spends ten years in prison, writing to his daughter, Marie-Sophie, who's 11 when he's sent away. Released, he reconnects to Marie-Sophie and to the young thieves, seeks revenge, and is quickly arrested again. She doesn't know what to make of her father, retreats to her Swiss fiancé, and is flummoxed when one of the young thieves falls for her. Is resolution possible when crime cuts across families and romance?

A man finds himself pursued by police and thugs because of a woman he has fallen in love with.

Dr. Bruno Sachs, the only medical practitioner in a small French town, seems on the surface to be compassionate and dedicated. However, in private he is not happy in his work and does not like most of his patients. Here he meets Pauline Kasser, a young woman, and they are attracted to each other...

Recording of the play 1789, a collective creation by Théâtre du Soleil at La Cartoucherie de Vincennes in 1970, edited from several shows.

Two best friends fall in love with the same boy.