David is a poor but ambitious Polish Jew who reinvents himself as a powerful New York business magnate. After gaining wealth, he relocates to Paris, only to have his selfish and demanding wife squander his fortune.
Paris, 30's declared professional rivalry between two stars of the musical, Yvonne and Gaby leads to dire consequences. Yvonne's body is found in the theater. Gaby's future is threatened against the judgment to which it is subjected, with a probable prison sentence.
A woman, named simply "Elle" and her husband, a wealthy industrialist, are not on the best of terms. While she enjoys the way he caters to her every whim, she wonders whether he really loves her. He, on the other hand, torments himself by imagining rivals. One morning she awakens from a nightmare...
Claude, son of a ruined family, pretends to be a dangerous trickster in order to get credit from the guys in the middle. He is in charge of retrieving compromising letters from a woman whose lover fears blackmail. But before arriving there, Claude fortunately meets love.
A former professor and devout Catholic living in Jerusalem is unaware that his son supposedly studying in Paris has actually become the leader of an anarchist network under the codename Sirias.
Blaireau, a poacher, is imprisoned for an offense he didn't commit. An ambitious lawyer tries to exculpate and glorify him. But, once he's released, this major philosopher destroys in just a few hours the prestige painstakingly built by his liberator.
