A young fisherman from Pozzuoli, Gino Esposito, is in love with the sixteen-year-old Laura who reciprocates him with passion; but her family is opposed to the idyll and even goes so wildly to beat the young man. The two pigeons, however, on the advice of the common friend Tito, flee to Venice but are immediately resumed; she is brought back home, he in prison for a minor rat. Laura marries Tito to save Gino from prison. So they spend about ten years, the two lovers meet again by chance in the record store that he has opened and they discover they still love each other. Gino remained a widower with a lively little boy, Duccio; Laura has a daughter Lisa, whom her father Titus adores. The marriage without love of Laura, after the meeting with Gino, goes into crisis. Tito is jealous of his wife who now hates him; so to take revenge on his rival he decided to have a bomb put in Gino's shop.

Due to their dire economic circumstances, Salvatore and Concetta cannot get married, nor can they afford to have her mother's blindness operated on. To remedy the situation, the woman decides to leave with her brother Nino for the United States to ask a wealthy aunt for help. Before leaving, Concetta swears eternal fidelity to Salvatore. But after a while, the man has no news from her. He then leaves for the United States, where he discovers that Concetta has broken their pact by marrying a mafia boss.