A young boy is hired as a lift attendant in a grand hotel when his mother dies. To fulfill his dream, he takes part in a competition organized by the manager, and wins 1st prize: a two-day stay in one of the princely suites. He wants to share the experience with his young girlfriend, the florist, but discovers that she has betrayed him and returns to her elevator.

Ange leaves New York to fly to his native Corsica. His mother is dying and Ange, who was not present when his father died, wishes to be present at her death. In Corsica Ange finds his brother Baptiste who married Maria, the woman he loved. He finds out that his father was killed, but nobody wants to tell him the name of the killer. And finally he finds two killers expecting him.

Edouard Binet, an aimless Frenchman, has been travelling in North Africa for many years, and is sailing to Belgium. En route, he meets Sylvie Baron. He introduces her to Nemrod Lobetoum, a rich Egyptian carrying valuable jewelry, and Sylvie and Nemrod become friends. Their friendship escalates to love, which makes Edouard jealous. Days later, Edouard arrives at a rooming house owned by Mme. Louise Baron, Sylvie's mother, wearing blood-stained clothes. It appears that Nemrod was killed on a train after he arrived in France, but Edouard denies any knowledge of what happened. Sylvie suspects that Edouard is responsible for Nemrod's death, but by now her mother has become Edouard's ally.

Three little criminals get a tip for a great coup with lots of money in it. Unfortunately they lack the starting funds to buy the required welding torch. So they persuade their successful colleague Alphonse to join their team. But the well thought-out coup fails, and Alphonse is the only one of them who ends up in jail for several years. When he's released, he's out for revenge.

Vincent is the victim of an assassination attempt carried out by a young woman who wants to avenge her sister. Albert, the childhood friend of Vincent, wants to help and begins to investigate the woman, but he realizes that Vincent is perhaps not the person he seems to be.

When political thugs murder an opponent's volunteer and also kill a cop, chief inspector Verjeat believes the politician who hired them is as guilty as the murderous goon. Verjeat's pursuit of the councilman, Lardatte, gets him a warning from his superiors. When he embarrasses Lardatte while disarming a hostage (the dead volunteer's father), Verjeat is told he's being transferred within a week. He speeds up his hunt for the goon and, with Lefévre, one of his young detectives, he engineers a complicated scheme to buy more time before the transfer. How should Verjeat play out his values of honor and duty?