In Naples in the second half of the nineteenth century, a young noblewoman falls in love with a nobleman of ill repute.

A television broadcast launches a proclamation for amateurs: "If you know how to speak, you will know how to sing". The award mirage lured many person, with ambitions or financial problems, to enroll in the competition.

Leo is a young man trying to make a living without any success. Through fortuitous circumstances, he is assigned by the director of a big firm to accompany for one night the daughter of the firm's accountant, Titi. Leo pretends then to be the son of a tycoon and takes her to a luxurious restaurant.

Enrico breaks up his marriage to Renata because he discovers that in the registry office she is already married to a certain Giulio, an inhabitant of a country town. The couple leaves in search of the mysterious Giulio who is about to marry Marcella, but her wedding also ends.

In the background of the football match Roma - Napoli different stories intertwine.

In Milan, an unwed mother, forced to flee from her town because of the scandal, meets a doctor who falls in love with her and marries her. But the couple's relationship breaks down almost immediately: the husband is unable to leave behind the woman's past and can not stand a son not his. So Dina, in an attempt to readjust the rapport, entrusts the child to the care of the mother of her seducer (meanwhile deceased). But the sacrifice is beyond her strength, and she's soon taken by the irresistible desire to get her child back: in damp and foggy night, on her way to the station...