Films A. Legrand

Elder brother, Adam Andinnian, is secretly married to Rose Turner. To defend her from a man who is stalking her and making lecherous advances, Adam shoots him and is sentenced to life in prison in a penal colony. Adam's mother, who favors him, conspires to help him escape the penal colony. The escape is a failure, resulting in a violent shootout where Adam, a prison guard, and another prisoner all perish. One body is never recovered, but the men are presumed dead. Younger brother, Karl, is engaged to Lucy Cleeves, but her snobbish parents deem him unsuitable. The narrative follows the interweaving lives and the long-term consequences of Adam's imprisonment and the failed escape attempt.

The suffering and rebellion of 12-year-old François Lepic, nicknamed "Carrot Top" by his mother, who hates him. Occupied with the council elections, his father appears unaware that the young boy is increasingly tempted by suicide.

A beggar and a singer are in love with the same woman.

Jérôme Crainquebille, is an ageing vegetable seller who has sold groceries from his cart in in Paris for over 40 years. One day, he is harassed by a policeman who insists that he moves on. When he protests, Crainquebille is arrested, supposedly for swearing at the policeman.

An adaptation of the first part of Balzac's History of the Thirteen, centered on the secret society of the Thirteen and helmed by René Navarre in the titular role of the former convict who became a sublime father.