In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim and both men fall for the impulsive and beautiful Catherine.

In occupied Paris, an actress wed to a Jewish theater owner must keep him hidden from the Nazis while doing both of their jobs.

Pierre Lachenay is a well-known publisher and lecturer, married to Franca and father of Sabine. He starts a love affair with air hostess Nicole, which Pierre is hiding, but he cannot stay away from her.

Charles Elaine, a famous actor, becomes the target of a man who wants to apply to him a theory according to which you can make someone crazy by manipulating him. Rella, a beautiful young woman, is designed to drive Charles crazy.

During the Gulf War, the paths of several groups of characters cross in France’s most desert-like region. The cast is as follows: An astrophysician who works alone with Geraldine in an observatory high in the mountains. He’d like to seduce Geraldine, but she seems to prefer the shepherd who’s been relegated to a shabby hut nearby. A group of filmmakers stuck in the middle of the countryside after their crew went on strike because lunch never turned up. A squadron of stupid soldiers who consider even the most minor incident to be proof of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of France. A maniacal geologist, oblivious of everything, who continues to search for the traces of a tectonic Big Bang in the most inaccessible places.

1920. Jean Rezeau and his elder brother were living happily in their family estate in Brittany, until the death of their grandmother. The return of their mother, a worthy descendant of fairytales' witches, brings an all new atmosphere to their home.

Jean-Pierre is a literature professor in Switzerland. Due to the vagarities of Swiss law, he is selected, basically at random, to be the guardian of a parentless teenage boy named Antoine. Conflict comes into the story as Jean-Pierre, who has just accepted a major promotion, must now deal with caring for a teenage boy he doesn't want to care for, as well as handling his own jealous boyfriend. Then his wife steps into the picture. Things get complicated from there as Jean-Pierre tries to get out of his guardianship.

An affluent, middle-aged couple's uneventful lives are forever changed when they move into an isolated house in the country and befriend an odd, younger couple.

A foundling, raised in the circus, Sam Lion becomes a businessman after a trapeze accident. However, when he reaches fifty and becomes tired of his responsibilities and of his son Jean-Philippe, he decides to disappear at sea. However, he runs into Albert Duvivier, one of his former employees. He comes to realise that he has ignored the important things in his life.