All of Europe was affected by the Great Depression of the 1930s, but some parts were hurt less badly than others. France, for instance, was relatively prosperous. In this grim drama, a sturdy Polish boxer and his family have settled into a mining town in northern France because that's where the work is. Like European "guest workers" in the 1990s, the Polish immigrants then were frequently treated badly by the locals. In this drama, the romantic aspirations of the boxer's son are thwarted by the concerted efforts of the local men and his own family's preference that he marry another Polish girl. After his romance fails, the son becomes a union activist and sacrifices a great deal to try to gain higher wages for the miners, but the contract he works out is reneged on by the duplicitous owners.

Antoine Rivière, a highly-reputed psychoanalyst, is visited by a new patient, Edouard Berg. When Berg claims to have killed his own wife, the doctor suspects he is a compulsive liar. How could he know that he has been caught in a trap and it's already too late for escape?

Vincent, a young painter with no money, is hired by a group of bored bourgeois to paint a picture of the villa they spend the summer in Brittany. As he is offered to stay overnight, Vincent witnesses the habits of his employers, each more bizarre than the other.

When their little cheat fails, Alain and Jean-Pierre fail their final high-school exams in English. Their parents deny them the planned vacation to the Côte d’Azur and send them instead to Ramscale in England, to improve their English. However, many other parents had the same idea, so they meet more of their own than English folks and end up more at beach parties than in class. Only with the girls do they seem to have no luck, although they desperately try...