Shy working class 15 year-old Antoine, bored with life and school, breaks a leg and has young higher class Olivia help him with his studies. As he silently falls in love with her, he also falls in love with books and his will to become a writer.

Diagnosed with leukemia, a successful orchestra conductor learns that he is adopted, and his younger brother is in a village marching band. The conductor decides to help them win a regional contest.

Alex, Antoine, Jeff and Manu. Four friends, four years later. Their relationships, friendship, shared secrets, feelings of guilt and their desire to change and improve.

Three friends navigate mid-life crises: a blocked writer, a disillusioned doctor, and a charming man facing bankruptcy and divorce. As their struggles strain friendships, a younger man captures the attention of one friend's wife, complicating their lives further.

Adolphe 'Dolfo' Rashevski travels to Israel with grandson Ric, but his brother, orthodox rabbi Samuel 'Shmouel, refuses to come attend their fellow Auschwitz survivor sister Rosa's funeral. Back in their home, the whole well-integrated family and their 'gojim' (non-Jewish and would-be) partners regularly wrestle with the meaning of Jewish blood, traditions and religion. For one it seems the way to gain a wife, for others the bomb under or the obstacle for a marriage. Yet love tends to conquer all but death.

A philosophy professor has an illicit affair with one of his students, a bright yet troubled girl who lives alone.

After being burned in romance just one time too many, Quentin has become a master at amiable, superficial relationships. In fact, most people can't help but like him, as he is clearly a sensitive and thoughtful fellow, in addition to being friendly. He frequently pulls up stakes and moves to a new town when things grow too intimate for his liking. Now he has fallen in love with a single mother who makes settling down look more attractive than wandering on. However, achieving the breakthrough to real intimacy will cost him a good deal of pain.

Frédéric, a young man with a troubled past, has the good fortune to be given a job in a luxurious mountain hotel. When one of the hotel guests disappears one evening and is later found dead, Frédéric suspects he may have been killed by the family who employ him. But rather than betray his boss, Jacques Couvreur, he makes up his mind to protect him. Unwittingly, Frédéric puts himself in grave danger...

The life of four best friends in Paris: Antoine (a gym school teacher), Jeff (director of a monthly journal), Alex (Jeff's associate in the monthly journal and a Don Juan) and Manu (owner of fine food store). Their time is shared between their respective jobs, their relationship with women (their own and others...) and the times they meet together to discuss about life and play sport lottery.

Vietnam, 1954. An American reporter finds himself in the middle of the battle of Điện Biên Phủ, between the French army and the Vietminh.