After being saved from suicide due to an unhappy marriage, Marie hesitates between two other men, but lands up rejoining her husband in the colonies as she now expects a baby.

Documents relevant to National Defence have been concealed in a certain vase by a dangerous gang of robbers. To neutralize the criminals, a seasoned police commissioner and his clumsy assistant, young inspector César, join forces with a colorful trio of thieves nicknamed Le Pouce (Thumb), L'Index (Index Finger) and Le Majeur (Middle Finger)...

The rise of a canning maker and then his abandonment of the factory because his ideal of social progress for his workers is undermined by the Board of Directors.

Young Gervaise has been very unhappy since her friend abandoned her. The man named Coupeau, a sympathetic roofing worker, takes her under his protection and tries to make her forget her dramatic breakup. But Coupeau is unable to free himself from alcoholism and soon Gervaise finds herself on the street.

A student monitor in a high school in the French provinces has no control over the pupils. He is in love with the caretaker's daughter but his superior, the Dean of Discipline, is also his love rival. Now, the two men are sent on military temporary duty and irony has it that in the Army the Dean is only a private whereas the mere supervisor's rank is ... corporal!

The son of a ruined family transforms into a castellan following an inheritance, becomes a parachutist champion in spite of himself, and becomes famous.

A colonel decided to be represented at the regiment festival of a tragedy in verse by the poem written by his sister.

Two bank employees like Lucie, their colleague. They steal money from the cash register to gamble. Jean wins and Paul ends up in prison for five years. When he leaves, he discovers that Jean has become a businessman and that he has married Lucie.

Sentenced to 20 years after killing a colleague for revealing that his wife was unfaithful, Sourdier escapes hoping to kill the woman as well.He learns she was true to him and has had a little girl who thinks the father is dead.

19th Century Russia. State prosecutor Fedor Andreiev is presiding over the trial of a man who murdered his wife's lover. Despite a robust defence from the brilliant young lawyer Serge Rostoff, the accused man is found guilty and will be deported to Siberia. Having spoken to the condemned man, Fedor Andreiev sees a disturbing parallel with his own life...