Episodic journey of journalist Marcello who struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.

A young peasant, Aldo Contini, come to Rome in search of a job. In order to observe two women who are sunbathing on a terrace, he climbs up to a roof, not knowing that he is on the roof of a palace, in which has been killed a little girl. Forced to escape, on his own from the moment in which someone discovers the corpse, he is mistaken for the assassin and only the providential participation of a policeman succeeds in saving him from the furious vengeance of an angry mob. In possession of some clues, he is subjected to a brutal interrogation by the police, during which Aldo, after having uselessly protested his innocence of the crime, ends up confessing to the crime in front of the enquirers.