故事发生在二战期间，主人公是法国小镇Nouvion的咖啡店主René Artois（实际拍摄地点为英国诺福克郡的Lynford Hall）。纳粹占领军抢劫了村子里所有的有价值的艺术品。
其中包括史上第一个布谷鸟挂钟，以及一幅号称是名家Van Clomp所作，价值连城的油画《堕落的大波麦当娜》。当地德军指挥官决定把这幅画归为己有，强迫Rene把画藏在他的咖啡馆里。可是，纳粹德国领袖希特勒也想得到这幅画，派了一个盖世太保军官前去寻找这幅画，而这个盖世太保也想自己猫腻这幅画。与此同时，出现了若干这幅油画的赝品。真品和赝品被弄混了。画被装进德国香肠里，一根放在军火运输列车中，在送往希特勒的途中被炸得粉碎，一根被藏起来，还有一根被Flick当成了晚餐。
该剧的另一条主线是两个被迫降落在该地的英国飞行员躲在René的咖啡馆里。当地全女性法国抵抗组织设法把这两位英国飞行员安全送回英国。但是，计划屡屡出漏子，也闹出了不少笑话。
似乎这一切还不够乱，René是个花心男人。跟咖啡馆里的两个女招待私下偷情，千方百计要瞒过自己的老婆。锦上添花，或雪上加霜的是，抵抗组织的女首领似乎爱上了René！另外，一个娘娘腔德国军官也看上了这位咖啡馆老板，总是向他暗送秋波。

An unschooled young man, one of the countless victims of Mao's Cultural Revolution, is laboring in the countryside when he is assigned to teach in a nearby school. Gradually, he abandons the Maoist textbook and encourages the barely literate kids to write about their own lives and feelings.

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.