When Nénette discovers the identity of her father in a letter, she quickly goes off in search of him. But instead of finding her father, she is met by her half-brother, Paul. Paul, a bitter man who gave up his dream to take over his father’s pharmacy business, is less than thrilled at the arrival of his ‘embarrassing’ half-sister. After refusing to take her in, he soon gets a taste of his own medicine. Under the influence of a potent drug, for one day Paul is generous, happy and sensitive. The next morning, however, once the drug has worn off, his nasty side comes back...
At Christmas time, 19-year-old Simon returns home to visit his dysfunctional family with Louise, a fearless girl he met during his train ride. While Simon struggles to cope with the growing distance between him and his parents, he starts to examine his feelings when Louise develop a liaison of her own with his childhood friend Mathieu.
Leonie Koutcharev, a top civil servant at the Ministry of Interior, proposes an ideal solution to the problem of overpopulated prisons: put model prisoners in the homes of carefully screened families. Jules and Norma Klarh, a childless couple, expect to receive an inoffensive juvenile delinquent but end up with the psychopath Marcus Steckner in their suburban home. The film centers on social criticism of the gap between reality and the bureaucratic assumptions of what reality should be.
To be closer to his children following his divorce, Laurent Monier, a history and geography teacher in a peaceful provincial high school, accepts a position in a sensitive college in the Paris suburbs. He is assigned the hardest class, the fourth techno, and he finds an apartment in the Cité des Muriers, a particularly difficult district.
Julie Toronto, a 32-year-old dwarf, quit her accounting job in Paris, to be with Antoine Delisles, the man of her life. She started working as a nanny at Antoine's. Julie is delighted: Antoine asked if he could marry her and both of his children love her. However, Antoine who is a lawyer, aspires to be President of the Bar. He understands pretty soon that the job he wants to fill is not necessarily compatible with the love he feels towards Julie Toronto.
Lepetit, an ambitious and determined man, is named the new CEO of a department store. His mission is to improve the store's financial position. He decides that the human factor will be his catchword and introduces new methods, which he also applied to himself. But tensions slowly arise between members of the staff.
Herbert, a Candide-like idealistic teenager, wants to become a doctor to help humanity, but his parents insist that he become a rich aviator. Herbert runs away to study medicine with a wise old Boulugre, and vows to help the natives of undeveloped countries. He finds that the Boulugres are a tribe whose men have a disgusting mushroom growing from their heads. He develops a vaccine for them, wants to give it to them free, and fights with Chousk, a pharmaceutical tycoon who wants to sell it to them. But the Boulugres are deathly afraid of needles and refuse to be inoculated by anyone. Herbert, disillusioned, escapes into love with a Yugoslav airline stewardess.