The attempt of a young hairdresser to act in a serious film with his chosen co star , recognized during the shooting as inept, is mistakenly taken by the audience to be deliberately comic.

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.

Comte de Larzac, an aging seducer, leaves Paris for Lannemezan. Accompanied by his friend Charmeuil, he goes there to acknowledge the paternity of Jean, a twenty-year old young man who knows nothing about his biological father. Jean, after falling for Jeanne, the daughter of a farmer, now courts Georgina, a middle-class woman of Romanian origin. After Father Jocasse has told Jean that he is Comte de Larzac's son, the young man follows his father to Paris. But he finds it hard to comply with the usages of high society and when his father refuses to consent to his marriage with Georgina, he returns to Lannemezan. Georgina is so upset by the count's refusal that she comes to see him and tells him very candidly about her past life. Moved by her plea, de Larzac drives her back to Lannemezan so that she can marry Jean. What was not expected is that, during the trip, they discover they are close to each other.

Loursat, a lawyer, lives with his daughter Nicole in a sinister and vast bourgeois residence. Abandoned for nearly twenty years by his wife, the brilliant lawyer has sunk into alcoholism and his relationship with his daughter is virtually non-existent. However, one day the corpse of a stranger is discovered in the residence of Loursat. Nicole, who frequents a gang of young people who escape boredom by stealing cars and other objects, is immediately suspected.

Véra, a vivacious woman, and her alleged brother Boris, are both hired by the Dubelairs as their chambermaid and caretaker. But Dubelair has done bad business while his wife Juliette plays at the races and... loses ! So when it comes to paying their domestics wages, Dubelair gives them lottery tickets. Chance has it that one of them is winning...!

In Central Europe, an organization of counterfeiters is headed by Burcq. An Air France pilot introduces an intelligence agent to the principality. A woman, Helene, betrays them first, then in love with Francois, the pilot, helps the two friends to escape.