Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

A washed-up filmmaker gets a second chance at stardom when he discovers stunning peasant Maria Vargas dancing in a Madrid nightclub. Goaded by his producer, the director convinces Maria to screen test for, and then star in, his next big picture. But as the producer's possessive nature and the realities of stardom weigh on Maria, she seeks a genuine lover with whom she can escape.

An exiled Italian prostitute shields her sister from a deep-sea diver on an island volcano.

Carlo, a young doctor, occasionally meets Anna, the daughter of professor Valli. Carlo falls in love with Anna, who returns his feelings; but her father longs a brilliant marriage for her.

Nick, an American gambler, arrives in San Paolo and falls in love with Colleen, an American tourist, after she loses all of her money at the casino. Nick flees with Colleen after they are framed for murder and he tries to track down the real killer.

Following World War II, the Allies designate that an unidentified town in the Trieste area as being partly Yugoslavian and partly Italian. A white line of demarcation splits the town in half and the townspeople are given just a short time to decides on which side of the line they will live. This leads to the dividing of homes, friends, families and the church and tensions run high.

An Englishman has been working in the US so long he now speaks with an American accent. He is drafted into the British Army during WWII but is injured and loses his memory. Because he talks like an American, the doctors repatriate him to the States where he is housed with a New York family. After the war they all travel throughout Europe, searching for the women he still remembers in the hope of restoring his lost memory

In the last days of the world war II a young Alpine soldier trys to find his way back home after the army was disbanded. In his village the soldiers, with the townspeople, become engaged in an effort to prevent the Germans from blowing up a dam.

A documentary about Vittorio de Sica with clips of his films and testimonials from friends and family.