Madame de Montespan, the Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XIV, has been in disgrace since the King set eyes on a younger beauty, Marie-Angélique Scorailles. Having had enough of the situation, the rejected mistress decides to visit La Voisin, a woman known as a fortune teller, a doctor, a midwife and who is also said to arrange black masses and sell poisons. Some time later Marie-Angélique, now Duchess of Fontanges, dies mysteriously aged only twenty...

Francois Roques, a power-and-money-mad editor of a Paris newspaper invites four women to a housewarming at his penthouse apartment. He plans on one of them to meet death by means of a loose railing on the balcony.

Lydia (Danielle Darrieux) is a student, poor and orphaned, who pretends to be the daughter of a famous writer.

The renowned theatre manager, Paul Rémy, is accused by his general secretary Andrieux of having killed his partner. On the advice of his wife Mona, Paul goes into hiding in a psychiatric hospital to escape from the police. But Andrieux seduces Mona who then turns against her husband.

Henri, the Man from Nantes, comes back to his country after a successful stay in the United States, where he was working for Liski, the drug dealer. With the fame of being a tough guy preceding him, he sets himself to the task of knowing why the French operations were not so profitable - and soon he is master of all links of the organization. He can now get it honed to perfection - or destroy it. Only... the Police are following his every step.

A sailor, who meets a lovely music hall singer during a police raid, falls in love. In a contest at a fair, he defeats a former boxing champ. The ex-champ trains the sailor to become a boxer. After he wins the French championship, the sailor is swayed by easy money and a sultry coquette. The singer goes on a singing tour, and the sailor falls into decadence. He enters the European championship spiritually empty and in bad condition.