Jean-Marie Fayard is a young examining magistrate in a large provincial french city. He belongs to that generation of judges who are endeavoring to re-adapt the notion of justice to our changing times. His methods are not agreeable to every one. Criticism and pressure are brought to bear upon him but he is aware of his value, professionally, and refuses to make any concessions. He follows an unwavering course. He uses dynamic methods and takes uncustomary initiatives. He behaves like a crusader, a battler, whence the nickname given him by the reporters : the sheriff.
While Henri Laurent speeds along on the racing circuits, his pretty wife Françoise goes from luxury boutique to luxury boutique with her best friend Denise. One day, Denise lets her know that Henri has a lover. Outraged, Françoise moves out of marital home and rents a maids' room in Rue de l'Estrapade. Henri tries to get his wife back but Françoise does not listen. She even looks for a job in a prêt-à-porter shop and lets herself be courted by Robert, her neighbor across the landing...
While Ludovic Dubois, a young summer camp monitor in Saint-Benoît, entertains the children by playing Robin Hood, the lord's niece is kidnapped by her uncle, in the castle next door. Helped by the children and the customs inspector, the last of the Robin Hoods will free the "Princess Isabelle", and will end up marrying her.
Father Benoît would like one of his twins to take over his inn, at 3 plates. But his ancillary ambitions are not commensurate with his last 3. Bernard is also in love with Hélène, daughter of Colonel Flouc de La Donzelle. He dreams of becoming an actor and goes to Paris to find a job. Difficult beginnings since from the theater, he goes to the cabaret, then to the radio, without success. In the final scene, the 3 brothers meet, which gives rise to a series of gags during the wedding.
Yesterday night, Lazare Chantoiseau painted the town red. This morning he wakes up with a very unsettling idea in mind: he is sure to have stolen and raped a strange woman in the Luxembourg Gardens, so he decides to give himself up. On that occasion he gets to know his victim, Hortense, as well as her husband, an astronomer. Lazare realizes he is innocent, which does not prevent from becoming... Hortense's lover!
The Jacques Brothers, their temporary replacements, Yves Gérard and his troupe, as well as a famous movie star looking for a new partner, Evelyne Dorsey, are causing disruption at the "La Rose rouge" cabaret, the most famous cellar in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, to the delight of regulars.
Suppose lost and found objects could talk... But they can! At least four of them... : -A statuette of Osiris remembers how two ex-lovers, a model and a good for nothing who claimed to be an Egyptologist, met again one Christmas Eve. -A violin has things to say about Raoul, a humble policeman who lost Solange, a widowed grocer he loved, to a god-dam seducing busker also named Raoul. -A scarf was witness to an eerie romance between a young madman and girl he had saved from suicide. -A funeral wreath lets us know how it caused a young woman to believe her lover dead. After having told their respective story, the objects return to their customary stillness.
The local building-contractor Martin Roumagnac is fascinated by the fashionable Blanche Ferrand. To impress Blache, Martin presents her with a villa. However, this ruins him financially. Despite Martin's many efforts for the now femme-fatal Blanche, she is not able to chose between him and the rich consul De Laubry.
A ruined banker is abandoned by his mistress. He commits suicide after entrusting a prostitute with twenty-thousand francs. The money changes hands. A crook is arrested in the house of an an actress he had fooled. In a luxury hotel, a typist kills her lover's wife. The trial of the murderer is followed by the bankruptcy of another financier and the money finally returns to the mistress of a suicide in the restaurant in which she had first appeared.
The everyday life and activity of "La Dernière Heure", a major evening newspaper, seen through the eyes of Hélène Perrin, a cub reporter trained by Pierre Rabaud, a star in his field. Side by side they will investigate several events: an air show that ends tragically, the coming to France of a Hollywood actress, a lightship caught in a terrible storm...
The film is biographical, telling the story of the life and artistic struggles of the French composer Hector Berlioz. Berlioz is shown as a recalcitrant medical student in an anatomy class dreaming of becoming a composer; at a demonstration during a performance at the Paris Opéra conducted by Habeneck; at supper with other young artists (Hugo, Janin, Dumas, Mérimée, Delacroix); and chasing after his future wife Harriet Smithson, after a performance of Hamlet. Also depicted are his life in a garret, while suffering from an illness due to an abscess in the throat; a visit from his mother who curses him; and the composition of the Symphonie fantastique. The film then shows his marital breakdown, the premiere of his opera Benvenuto Cellini, his travels throughout Europe, his second marriage to Marie Recio (called "Marie Martin" in the film), public acceptance in old age and reconciliation with his son.