Lyrical biography of the classical composer, depicted as a romantic hero, an accursed artist.

The plot concerns a comet hurling toward Earth on a collision course and the different reactions to people on the impending disaster.

After serving in the trenches of World War I, Jean Diaz recoils with such horror that he renounces love and personal pleasure to immerse himself in scientific research, seeking a machine to prevent war. He thinks he has succeeded, but the government subverts his discovery, and Europe slides with seeming inevitability toward World War II. In desperation, Diaz summons the ghosts of the war dead from the graves and fields of France to give silent, accusing protest.

The woman thief evades a young lady who is onto his game, but then tries his wiles elsewhere on a married woman by attempting to compromise and ruin the husband she is happy with.

A father falls in love with his son's mistress whom he has forced to emigrate to force him to break up. More carefree than a schoolboy, he ruins himself for the beauty who soon chases him away. The family will soon be reunited permanently.

Out of love for an actress, Isabelle, the Baron de Sigognac joins a traveling troop en route to Paris. When an actor dies, he takes over his role: that of Captain Fracasse.

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.