Barny, although a Marxist, is intrigued by the mysteries of religion. In confession, she teases a priest, Léon Morin, but he is a young and intelligent man and ready to discuss anything.

1943, Christmas Eve in occupied Brittany. Charles, a member of the Resistance, is parachuted into the house of his mother, Madame Parisot, where he meets Herta, a young German woman who has come to accompany her officer husband. Despite the situation, the two young people fall in love and protect each other, but their love is short-lived, interrupted at dawn by a deadly English bomb.

Monique, a Belgian girl, comes to Paris to learn painting and become an artist. She took courses at the Academy and found a studio in Montmartre.

François and Victor sell hard candy at the fun fair. They also bring up Gisèle, a one-year-old child they found by the side of the road. Although the two men are often at each other's throats they are the best friends, getting on well with the other fairground people. But when they defend Lisa, the fortune teller's daughter against Dédé, a thug who pesters her, they provoke his anger. Dédé sets fire to the two friends' stand and they are forced to take the road.

After WWII, a young man without perspective arrives in Rome. Living in a loft, he gradually discovers the city becoming a tour guide.