The search for a child murderer drags a once-respected detective into an all-consuming obsession.

As the Allied forces approach Paris in August 1944, German Colonel Von Waldheim is desperate to take all of France's greatest paintings to Germany. He manages to secure a train to transport the valuable art works even as the chaos of retreat descends upon them. The French resistance however wants to stop them from stealing their national treasures but have received orders from London that they are not to be destroyed. The station master, Labiche, is tasked with scheduling the train and making it all happen smoothly but he is also part of a dwindling group of resistance fighters tasked with preventing the theft. He and others stage an elaborate ruse to keep the train from ever leaving French territory.

Former professor of natural history, Louis Compiegne lives in retirement in a big house, with Pascal, his faithful servant. The arrival of a young American student comes to disorder the quiet life of the pensioner.

A mentally disturbed man named Jérémie is scouring the area in search of women he can strangle with his scarf, which is embroidered with an ibis.

Cashier Maurice Legrand is married to the wretched Adele. By chance, he meets Lucienne, 'Lulu', and makes her his mistress. He thinks he has finally found love, but Lulu is a streetwalker, still in love with her pimp.

Charles-Edmond, the eldest of the Larmentiel brothers, decides to return to La Rochelle, his hometown to die there. Forty years earlier he had been driven out by his father. Before passing away, the old eccentric announces that he has a hidden son, Émile, a fisherman to whom he wishes to bequeath his property. François, the younger brother, whom Charles-Edmond hates, is eyeing the inheritance to bail out the powerful family business, a veritable fishing trust, and will try to appropriate the affection and property of this inopportune heir. Émile, meanwhile, is too busy arguing with Fernande, a beugland singer, to suspect what awaits him...

Proud, eccentric, and antisocial, Monsieur Hire has always kept to himself. But after a woman turns up dead in the Paris suburb where he lives, he feels drawn to a pretty young newcomer to town and discovers that his neighbors are only too ready to suspect the worst of him.

Newly married couple Juliette and ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'Atalante along with the captain's first mate and a cabin boy.

Frank, a hobo, ends up in a garage-truck stop in the middle of nowhere. Nick Marino, its older, kind and naive owner, is married to Cora, a sexy and mercenary woman half his age. Frank, although not a fan of hard work, accepts Nick's offer to work for him. Of course, it is not for Nick's sake that the young man becomes his attendant, but for the love of Cora under whose spell he has fallen at once. It does not take long before Cora, who despises her husband, asks her lover to help her get rid of him. Frank is reluctant at first but ...

A story of the caring friendship formed between a crusty, old anti-Semite and an eight-year-old Jewish boy who goes to live with him during World War II.