A young student on vacation falls in love with the daughter of his hostess. The father, who has come to put an end to the beginning idyll, falls in love with the young girl's mother, but she refuses to marry him. He will end up, despite his disappointment, giving his consent to his son's marriage.

Julie and Désirée Clary are courted by the brothers Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte. Joseph marries Julie and Napoleon is affianced to Désirée. When Napoleon breaks the engagement and marries Joséphine de Beauharnais, Désirée becomes involved with General Bernadotte.

A fashionable singer makes a stopover in the harbor of Cannes, while a radio journalist investigates the fauna of the festival.

A renowned sculptor aged about fifty years, François Bressolles falls for the young Catherine Collet whom he convinces without difficulty to pose for him. Complications ensue when he starts to go blind.

On the death of the famous singer Maria Malibran, Countess Merlin retraces the main lines of the unusual destiny of this young woman entirely devoted to her art.