In the Montmartre district of Paris, France, a dance known as the can-can, considered lewd, is performed nightly at the Bal du Paradis, a cabaret where Simone Pistache is both a dancer and the proprietor. On a night when her lawyer and lover, François Durnais, brings his good friend, Chief Magistrate Paul Barrière, to the club, a raid is staged by police and the performers, including Simone, are placed under arrest.