Pasquale Grifone, who lives in Naples with his family, receives in a dream the visit of Dante Alighieri. The poet suggests to the man, clouded by the fumes of alcohol, four numbers to play.

Giorgio with some friends rehearses a show of Neapolitan songs financed thanks to an elderly artist. Having come to quarrel with the landlady, Giorgio rented a room with a good woman who lives with her beautiful daughter Maria. Love soon arises between the two.

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.