Going to take up his post in Moukden, the forest engineer finds in a trainer from the cabaret "the midnight sun" a Russian princess, Armide, whom he once loved. He had met her in 1917 when the princess and her father were driven from their domain. Prince Ireniev is a gambler, a trickster, a matchmaker. Out of love for Armide, Forestier flew, and yet when he finds the two wrecks, he cannot resist. Abandoning everything, his position and his honor, he leaves with the woman of his destiny.

A scientist who have discovered how to turn salt water into petrol dies before he has revealed his formula. By mistake it's assumed that his assistant knows it although he does not.

In 1935, in the Burgundian village of Valromey, Commissioner Desbordes was the very unpopular leader of the anti-alcoholic league. His own brother, Pimpin, is an unconditional defender of the vineyard. Pierre Moreau is, for his part, the representative of a hygienic drink, the "Koku-Kolu". The cafe owner's daughter, Rose, will find the man very to her liking and will manage to seduce him.

How a simple sewer, a perfect look-alike of the president of the council, manages to reform a country and make himself loved by his fellow citizens.