In the Mouffetard district of Paris, Jérôme Crainquebille, an affable four-season merchant, is stopped by a police officer and taken to the station, unjustly accused of shouting "Mort aux vaches!" ("Death to the cows!"). When he returns to work after a fortnight's detention, he is ostracized by his neighbors. Lonely, Crainquebille sank into despair and alcoholism. His life in prison seemed sweeter, and his attempts to return were in vain. He owes his salvation to the affection of a local kid.

A legionnaire, Georges, promised his friend, who died of a snake-bite, to marry Catherine, the girl with whom he had a child. Back in France, the young soldier goes in search of Catherine. The girl he finds is a dumb puritan; in spite of his disappointment, he keeps his promise and asks for her hand. At the last moment, in the town-hall, he discovers the girl he is to marry is not the true Catherine. So he leaves his fiancee and heads for Paris where the true girl works as a cabaret dancer. But the deserted fiancee is not prepared to accept it.

Pau is home to the famous "Red Berets". Four of them have forged close friendships: Dominique, a Corsican with the rank of master sergeant; Julien, a peasant; Dédé, a wild Parisian; Jean, a shy provincial. On free evenings, the four friends meet in a bar where Dominique is interested in the waitress and Dédé is in love with Paulette, the owner's daughter. One day, a car breakdown brings Jean into contact with a young girl from Paris: Brigitte. But Brigitte leaves again and Jean can't stop thinking about her. Because of their good behavior, the battalion to which the four men belong is chosen to represent their arm at the July 14th parade in Paris. In the capital, each of them tries to find their loved ones.

Nineteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in Jean Renoir’s exhilarating tale of the opening of the world-renowned Moulin Rouge. Jean Gabin plays the wily impresario Danglard, who makes the cancan all the rage while juggling the love of two beautiful women—an Egyptian belly-dancer and a naive working girl turned cancan star.

After several attempts at suicide, depressed thief Antonio Marchi accidentally drowns in a river and ends up in hell.