A married Roman landscape architect starts an affair with a young woman who might be a shadow from his past.

Six vignettes explore love and desire in Rome, from prostitution and heartache to unwed motherhood and the male gaze.

When a good-natured factory supervisor living in Milan with his Northern wife returns to his native Sicily, a decades' old oath forces him to fulfill a nightmarish obligation.

An impressionable young woman's relationship with an aging prostitute leads to a job as a maid at a brothel.

In Italy, Checco Dal Monte manages a troupe of traveling performers with plenty of heart but minimal talent. At a small town engagement, he encounters the starry-eyed, gorgeous Lily Antonelli, and hires her as a dancer on the show. Vivacious Lily quickly sells out crowds and earns the resentment of Checco's mistress, Melina Amour, but the fledgling performer has far bigger ambitions and soon sets her sights on a higher-profile role.

In order to convince Raimonda, a wealthy noble woman, to finance his project for a holiday resort, Saverio gets engaged to Clotilde, her mentally-disturbed and sex-obsessed adolescent daughter. He plans to have her kidnapped and raped by an accomplice so she won't be a virgin anymore and he'll have an excuse to get out of the impending marriage. But what he doesn't plan is to fall in love with the girl...

Augusto Valle is a successful young industrialist who weds Palmira, the girl working in his factory, and the two have a child despite the infant's uncertain legitimacy. Scheming to control her husband's fortune, Palmira has affairs with both the mayor and the judge to have Augusto committed to a mental institution. While there, he falls in love with Serafina Vitali, a young woman who was also put away.

At age 50, tax inspector Emerenziano decides to settle down and aims to the three Tettamanzi sisters, who, though not young or pretty by any means, have recently inherited a large amount of money.

Franco, a young man of noble descent, marries Luisa, daughter of a humble clerk, against his grandmother's will.

Franco, a young man of noble descent, marries Luisa, daughter of a humble clerk, against his grandmother's will.