The Marquis de la Chesnaye and his wife host a weekend gala where a variety of complicated romantic and social entanglements between guests and servants lead to tragedy, all against the backdrop of a looming war.

An idle and very jealous woman sets a trap for her husband by luring him to an appointment to which she goes herself. But the faithful husband sends one of his friends there. He falls in love with the young woman.

Abbé Pellegrin, parish priest of Sableuse, sells an ancient Christ to an unknown man, M. de Saint Preux. Summoned to the bishop's palace, he learns that he has been the victim of a swindler. The Christ, exchanged for a "mouthful of bread", is a valuable antique. Not wanting to compromise his wartime comrade La Goupille, who had introduced him to Saint Preux, Pellegrin proposed to his bishop that he himself carry out the search for the Christ. For the occasion, he swapped his cassock for a "civilian" outfit and landed in Paris. He recovers the treasure in the midst of a series of adventures and misadventures involving Cousinet, the former squire of Sableuse. He takes in the tenants Cousinet has just evicted from his hotel.

Ruined by her banker, Antoinette becomes her driver. She signs a contract which assures her of the reimbursement of her fortune if she manages to support the banker for three months. She wins his bet, but falling in love with him, she tears up the check and marries him.