"Les Trois Valses" traces the love story of two people over three eras. In the first waltz (music based on Johann Strauss I), Yvonne is a sensitive Parisian ballet dancer, whose romance with a dashing officer is brought to an abrupt end by his family. She goes off to Vienna to become a big star. In the second waltz, her daughter, an even bigger star, but now of Paris music halls, has a brief flirtation with the rakish man-about-town who is the son of suitor number one. She throws him over pretty quickly for a chance to shine at a Gala performance. Finally, in the third waltz, the two get together, when she is a movie star, and he is posing as an insurance salesman.
Line, Annette's daughter, is about to marry a man she's not in love with. At the engagement party three ghosts revisit their disastrous relationships with Annette and decide to take action to help Line.
An aristocratic woman is coerced by her impoverished family into marrying a wealthy business tycoon.
Geneviève, ruined and destitute, visits a former servant working for a count who is absent for the moment. He offers Geneviève the bed of the count, who returns unexpectedly. After some adventures, the count passes Geneviève off as his sister, then marries this young girl he so curiously met.
Josyane Plaisir, a rather idle singer, who is waiting for the man of her heart,handsome and rich if possible, accepts the offer of a dog handler. The clever man has worked out a scheme to snare rich men. The trick is simple: "Pantoufle", the little dog he lets for 5,000 francs a week, will run off, climb into a luxurious car with only one man inside and "retrieve" him to Josyane, since her address is stuck to the dog's collar. René, the first man who rings her door-bell, is single (or nearly so!), good-looking but ... broke.
Completely ruined, André is left with nothing more than the clothes on his back. He is hired as a controller in a small theater and there meets his wife, from whom he is in the process of divorcing. She tells him that he has just recieved an inheritance and that she still loves him.
After squandering his family's fortune, Richard d'Argental, a young marquis, is forced to sell his manor to a young widow, Sylvie. Things get worse for Richard when he finds himself accused of a crime he did not commit. But posing as a butler, Richard manages to be hired by Sylvie so he can hide out in his former property. Soon, love is born between the mistress and her servant.