An innocent woman falls prey to her abusive husband, his wealthy father and a shady family friend.

Due to a garbage strike, inmates are called in to take care of the garbage collection. Taking advantage of this unexpected situation, three of them manage to elude their guards.

A compilation of segments covers the seven deadly sins of greed, wrath, envy, pride, lust, sloth, and gluttony.

New Europe presidential candidate Etienne Alexis is a scientist promoting artificial insemination for social betterment and therapy to eliminate passion. To celebrate his engagement to a cousin, he hosts an aseptic picnic, where Mother Nature asserts herself. A shepherd's flute conjures a windstorm throwing Alexis together with the luscious Nénette, a farm lass who, although unimpressed with men, wants to have a baby.

A teenager becomes fixated on a painting of the handsome suitor who died in a duel for her grandmother's love. On her sixteenth birthday, her father hires three men who pretend to be the ghost of the suitor to entertain her. Little do they know, the ghost of the suitor himself is roaming the castle halls.

Three vignettes and a musical interlude showcase acclaimed auteur Jean Renoir's eclectic range at the end of his career: the relationship between an old man and an old woman, both homeless; an opera-like story of a woman obsessed with polishing her floors; Jeanne Moreau performs 'When Love Dies'; and an elderly man and his young wife coming to terms when she has an affair with a man her own age.