In a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans, theater mime Baptiste is in love with the mysterious actress Garance. But Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: pretentious actor Frederick, conniving thief Lacenaire, and Count Edouard of Montray.

Fanfan is a young handsome peasant. He joins the army to escape marriage because a gypsy girl predicted he will get glory and the king's daughter as a wife. But the gypsy girl was in fact Adeline, the daughter of the recruiting officer. Once he has discovered the stratagem, Fanfan refuses to forget this dream and decides to fulfill the destiny of the fake prediction.

At the end of the 15th century, a man and a woman, posing as traveling minstrels, are sent by the Devil to a castle to seduce its inhabitants.

Stage actress Marianne has decided to give up her career to marry wealthy nobleman Marquis Antoine de Fontaines. As a wedding present, Antoine gives his future wife a precious diamond necklace, which is coveted by a gang of crooks. Jean, one of them, is given the mission to approach Marianne and steal the necklace from her. The only trouble is that when he meets her, she recognizes him as the man she once loved.

The mysterious vigilante Milton has warned Scotland-Yard of his intention to kill the lawyer Maurice Meister who is the cause of his sister's suicide. Police and detectives watch over the lawyer's home, but on the day and at the appointed time Meister is murdered.

At the turn of the last century, a beautiful spy takes advantage of a handsome officer to get across the Russian border without her passport. They fall in love. But the Grand Duke also falls in love with the young woman, who has in fact been assigned to kill him. A jealous mistress kills the spy before she can commit the crime.

Denise, a young employee of the mine, is courted by the engineer Risay while she is engaged to Daniel, a simple underground worker. A betrayal has occurred that compromises the mine. An accident occurs and about fifteen workers, including Denise's fiancé, are buried under rubble in a collapsing shaft.

The Marquis de Montauran was appointed to command the Chouans whose first two revolts were crushed. An aristocrat, Marie-Nathalie de Verneuil, is sent by Joseph Fouché to seduce and capture him.

An accomplished young man, Prince Stéphane is destined for a brilliant future but when he finds out that Marie, his beloved fiancée, has had an affair with the man he respects the most, Tsar Nicolas 1er in person, the shock is terrible. Unable to recover, he chooses religion and becomes a monk and a hermit. He becomes known as a healer and worshiped as a saint, although he himself is aware of his many weaknesses. The day he learns Marie is seriously ill Le père Serge formerly known as Prince Stéphane leaves sanctity behind and hits the road for Saint Petersburg.

The wealthy industrialist Alain de Narbois has disappeared. Michel Dunant, an idle man who passed by and who looks exactly like the deceased, is taken for Alain by a young woman and her servant. He jumps at the chance but quickly realizes that, in this hushed little world, masters and servants play comedy and know very well that he is only a double of Alain. In fact, the industrialist was assassinated.