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.

Filumena Marturano is a former prostitute who has been living for years with Domenico Soriano, a wealthy Neapolitan pastry chef who was once her client. To force Soriano into marriage, the woman pretends to be dying in order to invoke a "deathbed" wedding, but the charade fails and Don Domenico tries everything he can to annul the sacrament. Filumena is forced to come clean.

Antonio Barracano is an old Camorra member who administers justice according to his own unique criteria. Magnanimous and tough, severe and affectionate, he is recognized as the 'mayor' by all the dispossessed of the Sanità district. His particular brand of justice towards the poor leads him to sacrifice his own life in order to solve the financial problems of Rafiluccio and Rita, a couple expecting a child and overwhelmed by debt.

In a miserable, freezing two-room apartment on the first floor of a building, the Ruòppolo family lives in complete poverty. Giovanni, a clerk, struggles against a thousand difficulties to make ends meet, while his wife, Cristina, takes care of the housework.

A love story between two women in the Naples outskirts, a universe so far away from the glare of modernity, turbid, rural, completely naked in its ugliness and sorrow, where "people are talking".

Don Felice Sciosciammocca, a poor and simple man, goes to the day, hoping that sooner or later will come the right opportunity to change his life. A nice day at Don Felice comes a parcel from a dear cousin, which contains three pairs of old trousers. Apparently only common value objects, but they will create great surprises.

In order to convince Raimonda, a wealthy noble woman, to finance his project for a holiday resort, Saverio gets engaged to Clotilde, her mentally-disturbed and sex-obsessed adolescent daughter. He plans to have her kidnapped and raped by an accomplice so she won't be a virgin anymore and he'll have an excuse to get out of the impending marriage. But what he doesn't plan is to fall in love with the girl...

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.