Every week, Virgil makes his father Ernest dream by telling him about his boxing exploits during a visit. Every week, Virgil comes to dream by meeting the eyes of Margot, a young woman who is also visiting. This week, Ernest tells her that he is going to get out and that he will finally be able to see Virgil in the ring. There's just one problem: Virgil hasn't boxed in three years.
Antoine works in a bar in Paris. One evening on his way home from work, he intervenes when a man tries to commit suicide. He feels strangely guilty about having saved the man's life and constantly tries to help him, make things better. No matter what Antoine does, he can't get Louis's mind off Blanche, the woman of his dreams, his sole obsession, the reason why he wanted to die... Antoine decides to look for her, but doesn't let Louis know.
Old buddies Eric, Jean and Karim have never really grown up. Spending their listless days and nights in the same Lyon suburb where they were raised, the men are always looking for distractions. So when Jean steals a television camera one afternoon, the trio decide to head into the city in the hopes of pawning it. But their funny idea of an adventure turns out to be a ticket into trouble.
In this French comedy, the young adult children of working-class Arab immigrants living in the projects of suburban Paris endeavor to find a suitable cultural identity. The story centers on four young men in their 20s: Farida, who tries to live according to family traditions; his rebellious sister Souad, who wants to be as Westernized as possible and works at a fast-food outlet; her ex-boyfriend, Jean Luc, who wants to be an immigrant lawyer; and his friend Moussa. The film is comprised of brief incidents from their lives.
In Paris, Lulu, a passionate policeman, works with the faith of a rookie, despite the sclerotic bureaucracy and the incompetence or negligence of some of his colleagues. In his new position as a narcotics inspector, he tries to keep his sanity as he witnesses the worst of the human condition.
Three penniless artists become friends in modern-day Paris: Rodolfo, an Albanian painter with no visa, Marcel, a playwright and magazine editor with no publisher, and Schaunard, a post-modernist composer of execrable noise.