In the Brussells suburb known as "Bear Cage," a poor grocer is at odds with his sexually hyperactive and fashionably Maoist son, who is also a college student. When the students at the college stage a protest in which his son is involved, his exasperation mounts.

After a computer operator has been through a painful relationship, he is determined to look the other way every time any interesting woman enters his life. He has his other loves - photography and model planes - to challenge him anyway. However, one day a car breaks down in front of his house, and a young mother with her 10-year-old daughter come in looking for assistance. The daughter is endearing and would make a terrific subject for a photo contest. As both the young mother and the computer operator studiously ignore the flicker of romantic sparks, it is only a matter of time before the flame either grows or is extinguished.

Hedwig, a young wealthy woman growing up in the straight-jacket of bourgeois morality in the Victorian era, descends into madness after years of sexual repression and tragedy.

Lucien is a dwarf, who works hard in a large legal office. His only friend is trapeze circus artist Isis. One day he gets the attention of singer Paola Bendoni and falls in love with her.

Hubert Durieux is a mild-mannered provincial banker whose orderly life—with an ex-wife, an adoring daughter, and a mistress—gets hilariously upended when he becomes entranced by a free-spirited Roma woman who steals his car and hides in its trunk.

Pouske runs the "Le Bienvenu" café with his wife Antoinette and daughter Jeanne. On the market square, the fairgrounds are setting up their rides and the neighborhood is getting ready to party. But Jeanne is about to fall in love with a sweetheart who has come from who knows where to cause trouble.

A crusader gets lost with his horse in the desert and stops to die. He ponders over the recent events, the pillaging of villages, and the four women who followed them to rob whatever was left.

Aging opera singer Joachim Dallayrac retires from the stage and retreats to the countryside to school two young singers. Although the rigorous training takes its toll on both teacher and students, there is plenty of time for relationships to develop between the three.

A detective is seeking an assassin in a murder that has not yet occurred, only to discover that it is his destiny to become that assassin.