Two formerly rich men try to get back on their feet, counting on their respective son and daughters marriage prospectives. The two youths meet and fall in love not knowing about their parents plan and even when the truth comes out and they are told to break the engagement because they are not rich, they fight to stay engaged and marry.

A cinematographic account of the reprisal ordered by the ruthless Austrian colonel Kappler in 1944 in Rome. In Via Rasella (Rasella Street) ten Italian civilians were sentenced to death for each German soldier killed in a partisan attempt.

An Italian submarine commander manages to sink an English warship and take its very British commander as prisoner. The film is based on the relationship which develops between the two characters.