René Sabin, engineer, disappointed by failures, leaves his village in the South to go to Paris with friends. In the capital, he befriends dubious people, in particular Alex Krakow who does not disdain shady business. Then comes the war. René is mobilized then returns to the country, and finds with joy his fiancée.

In the studio where the famous director Eric Von Berg reigns, Pierre Vanier, the male star of the film and the lover of Berg's muse, dies while rehearsing a scene. Over the course of a tangled investigation, the culprit is unmasked. This honest dresser is the adoptive mother of Vanier's wife, too unhappy with such a husband. The inspector, moved, concludes a suicide.

Jérôme owns a boat with his crook of an uncle, La Rose de la Mer. They sail with a band of crooks hired by the uncle to scuttle the ship and collect the insurance premium.

Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, and those of his two successors, are followed in more detail to the start of the Revolution, after which the story is brought rapidly up to date. A huge cast plays mainly historical persons who appear briefly.

A newspaper editor wants to sell more newspapers using sex crimes as a way to attract more readers.

An inventor has just developed an extraordinary machine, a disintegrating ray and thought detector. He experiences it one evening on a group of relatives, including his fiancée, and it seems to turn into a tragedy: he is found lifeless, apparently poisoned. A man calling himself a police officer begins to investigate.

Four men in love with the same woman put on a music-hall show and travel the world in search of the beauty. They will find success and fortune, but their sentimental quest will be a failure.

A little town erupts in turmoil about the construction of a public urinal. The army is sent in to restore order, but the military add to the confusion by getting involved with the local women.