At the beginning of the eighties, Sirio, a young worker of the Terni steelworks with a past in student protesting, decides to abandon his job to join an extreme left-wing group. Although he declares himself contrary to the armed struggle following the decision by some elements of the group to carry out terrorist actions, he is arrested upon being caught with his best friend Apache.

Two homeless men in Rome are arrested due to a misunderstanding. In jail, they meet a man who has been arrested for eating and running from restaurants. Together they embark on a series of escapades around Tuscany.

During a high-stakes investigation into corporate and banking elites tied to organized crime, a police chief and his team are murdered for refusing a bribe. Meanwhile, another officer finds his bank account credited with a large sum and receives anonymous instructions on how to handle the subsequent inquiry.

Annetta, of Sicilian origins, is annoyed by the different treatments and freedoms reserved for men and women. Because of her rebellious attitude, the girl is locked up in the house of her relatives where she suffers an attempt of violence by her uncle. After returning to her parents, she finally gets married to her beloved Nicola.

The time is the late 1920s, and Angelo and Tonino are two brothers traveling around the country in a rattle-trap truck, showing moving pictures to any group of people willing to pay. When they arrive in the region of Emilia-Romagna, Angelo strikes up a relationship with a wealthy marchesa connected to the fascist movement. Tonino, on the other hand, starts to follow the rebellious Giovanni, locked up for his anti-fascist stance, and the farmers who have joined in the anti-fascist forces. As the rebels are either murdered or put in prison, Tonino becomes more and more commited to their cause - especially after Giovanni is killed. When a silent movie on the condemned and dying Christ is shown on the brothers' screen, Tonino stops the action to project some slides he has taken that show who murdered Giovanni - in an action that calls for his brother and the rest of the bystanders to finally make a decision on where to place their loyalties.