A beautiful felon, sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a policeman, is given a second chance – as a secret political assassin controlled by the government.
The film concerns a group of disparate types who support themselves by running guns to the Arabs. On the surface, it would seem that these characters are bad guys. In fact, the guns are to be used by a resistance group who hope to continue shipping oil to the West, despite the despotic curbs imposed upon fuel shipments by their leaders.
During the prohibition era, Cornelius, a bootlegger, is on the run from the American coastguards. He comes across a silent film actress, Linda, on the set of a movie and falls in love with her.
In Paris, under the Restoration, Julie de Chaverny, a young woman admired and envied by all, has been suffering for six years from an unhappy marriage to her husband, M. de Chaverny. She finally gives in to the advances of a young man she's known since childhood, deciding at last to live her own life. She wants to run away with him, but discovers it's only a passing fancy. Feeling disgraced and laughed at, she sets off for Nice to join her mother.
At the end of the 19th Century, young Fanning finishes his studies in theology at the University of Cambridge. During a walk through the countryside, the boy, inspired by the lecture of romantic novels, discovers an abandonned house, from which an old man is coming out. He returns to the house regularly without ever seeing its mysterious inhabitant. Fanning finally surprises the old man while he is sitting on a bench at the cemetery and manages to gain his confidence...
After twenty-seven long months spent in Algeria, Frédéric Simon, a young photographer is determined to forget this time of trouble. Now that the Army has finally discharged him he wants to live the good life. And at first, things go according to his wishes: not only does he marry Sylvie but they are invited by a wealthy man to Monte Carlo, where they spend a dream honeymoon. But back in Paris, hard times await them. Not finding work easily along with having to live in a cramped apartment make Frédéric bitter and unpleasant. When Sylvie becomes pregnant, he slams the door and finds consolation in the arms of Christine, an ex girlfriend, which he soon regrets. At last, the situation improves. Frédéric finds work and starts making money as a fashion photographer. But the good life cannot go on: one morning a policeman knocks at the young couple's door: the country wants Frédéric back in the Army.