A naive girl's love for Switzerland is put to the test in this satiric comedy. Irina is a woman from Russia who all her life has always been fascinated by Switzerland and longs to live there some day, though her notion of Swiss life has more to do with Heidi and old movies set in the Alps than reality.

Fontamara is a village in the Marsica, forgotten by all but God and its inhabitants are called 'cafoni' (boors). Berardo Viola wants to marry Elvira but only after gaining enough money to buy some land and in order to reach his aim he has the idea of going to a great city. When Maria Grazia is raped by the fascists, Berardo and Antonio decide to leave Fontamara and go to Rome. Here they are swindled by a lawyer and afterwards they are invited by an antifascist to a restaurant where they are arrested by the police because of some subversive papers they had.

Two wise guysmanage a messed up underground casino and brothel. A "hunting club" as a cover up. The place is frequented by all kind of characters, from the Neapolitan upper class to the petty criminals, who use it as a base and such is the turmoil that it will not take much to blow the cover up.

Guests of the wealthy young Don Alberto De Simone, the ramshackle troupe of actors known as "L'eclettica," led by Gennaro De Sia, rehearse a new play in an attempt to redeem themselves after the fiascos of their previous performances. The "rehearsals" are interrupted by the arrival of Salvatore, brother of Viola, an actress who is expecting Gennaro's child and who wants to force the man to act like a gentleman and marry her.

Depressed magistrate Damiano Fortezza relocates from Milan to a small town in Campania, where the three Fontana sisters, owners of a chain of incinerators, dominate. The youngest, Eugenia, is about to marry a well-known crook Fortezza has to prosecute. However, he ends up falling in love with Eugenia and questioning the priorities of his job.

A convicted terrorist out on parole meets a man she nearly murdered 15 years before, without recognizing him. He does so, but he chooses to keep quiet and spend time with her—desperate to understand the reasons behind her gesture.

In a family of full-blooded Neapolitans, tragedy strikes: a girl is born speaking and acting like a northerner!

Luca Cupiello, like every Christmas, prepares the crib, amid the disinterest of his wife Concetta and his son Tommasino. Ninuccia, the other daughter, writes a letter to her husband in which she communicates that she leaves him for her lover. The letter happens in the hands of Luca who hands it over to his son-in-law, who thus learns of his wife's betrayal. During lunch on Christmas Eve, the two rivals, who were confronted by Luca's carelessness, clash violently.

Oreste Campese is the leader of a traveling troupe of actors—made up of his family—who find themselves in the middle of winter in an unspecified town in central Italy. During the prologue, Campese recounts the events leading up to the present: the troupe has suffered the misfortune of losing their "shed," a mobile theater structure that was destroyed by an accidental fire. The flames spared only the boxes of props and costumes, which were opportunely saved.