Two modest young employees, Jean and Madeleine, dream of leading the way, but the experience turns out badly. Madeleine marries a German aristocrat who turns out to be a spy, and finds Jean who had joined the Legion.

After the death of her trapeze artist father, a little girl is taken in by two clowns.

In a slum set to be demolished, dramas are played out among the picturesque slum dwellers, including a young couple who, denounced by the police, are forced to leave home.