A humble Neapolitan with singing ambitions, being broke, resorts to bag-snatching. He's arrested and while in jail he takes part in a singing contest and wins it with some kickback by a powerful mafia boss. He becomes a famous singer, falls in love with a gold digger and forgets the only love that really counts on this earth, his mother's.

Franco, a young Neopolitan about to leave for military service, promises his fiancee, Maria, to write to her every day. But after two months apart, his comrades meet a general's daughter, and his letters to Maria become increasingly rare.