A middle-aged man, an architect by trade, decides to make an end run around getting married. He marries a charming young woman, tenderly in love, who proves incapable of holding him back and, above all, of making him work. But a young American arrives in Paris and reveals that he is the architect's natural son. At first reluctant, the latter and his young wife quickly adapt to the new situation, until the son, a businessman through and through, wants to share with his father his ideas on life, which can be summed up in one sentence: hard work, with no time for pleasure. The father is quick to balk, and the son is forced to unwillingly participate in the fickle architect's nightlife. Eventually, the father is able to settle down, while the son, having acquired a taste for love, has a good time.

A crime is committed in a circus during the performance of a sketch between two clowns. One of them is killed. They accuse the other, Sylvia's fiancé, to whom the victim was courting. After many twists and turns, the murderer is discovered to be the troupe's dwarf.

Relatives brawl over the estate of a deceased grandmother who owned an insecticide factory.They stop at nothing, including bumping each other off.

A little Métis girl, Kalina is saved from a massacre by Taraor, a black man from Sudan. Having become a great and beautiful dancer from the South, she meets Captain Portal, in garrison in Marrakech. This is the beginning of a great love story. But that's counting without Taraor's jealousy.

Historical film directed and written by Sacha Guitry follows the the history of Paris from its founding through the significant events in the city's history.