Filumena Marturano is a former prostitute who has been living for years with Domenico Soriano, a wealthy Neapolitan pastry chef who was once her client. To force Soriano into marriage, the woman pretends to be dying in order to invoke a "deathbed" wedding, but the charade fails and Don Domenico tries everything he can to annul the sacrament. Filumena is forced to come clean.

Antonio Barracano is an old Camorra member who administers justice according to his own unique criteria. Magnanimous and tough, severe and affectionate, he is recognized as the 'mayor' by all the dispossessed of the Sanità district. His particular brand of justice towards the poor leads him to sacrifice his own life in order to solve the financial problems of Rafiluccio and Rita, a couple expecting a child and overwhelmed by debt.

In Naples, where the modest clerk Michele Crispucci lives with his daughter Assuntina, his ex-wife arrives with her circus. The young Concettino confides to a friend that he wants to give up his marriage to Assuntina, because twenty years earlier the girl's mother had abandoned the family and become rich by giving herself to wealthy lovers.

Michele, recently released from the asylum, returns home where his sister Teresa, the only one who knows about his past madness, is waiting for him.

In Naples, during World War II, Amalia Jovine, in order to survive, smuggles food and coffee in her crowded and dilapidated basement, in partnership with Settebellizze. Her husband Gennaro disapproves, but does not prevent Amalia from continuing her trafficking...

Luca Cupiello lives with the wife Concetta, the son Tommasino, and a brother, Pasquale. The son is wild, living by gimmicks and stealing from his uncle; the daughter Ninuccia does not get along with her husband Nicolino and plans to run away with her lover Vittorio; the wife tries to hide her family's troubles from her husband. Luca, who silently suffers the family situation, takes refuge in setting up the Nativity scene.