Silvio (Alberto Sordi) is an Italian partisan, he and his companions belong to Italian resistance movement fighting against the Nazis. They are at Lake Como. He is helped by Elena (Lea Massari). He spends three months hiding in Elena's grandfather's mill. They fall in love. Silvio is an idealist, communist, journalist writer. He goes back to war.
The film spans the story of Italy from 1944 to 1960, from the times of poverty in World War II to the birth of the Italian Republic, the elections and Silvio's ideals of the Italian Communist Party, his stay in jail, his disappointments, his crises with Elena, his attempts to get his works published and to sell his film scripts in Cinecittà to Alessandro Blasetti, Silvana Mangano and Vittorio Gassman (they appear as themselves).

Since her husband pronounced her frigid on her wedding night, Antonia DeAngelis has been an invalid. When he disappears, she believes him dead: she leaves her bed and takes over his business, traveling to see clients. She discovers her husband's passions, his political writing, mistresses, and his indifference to the peasants on her family's land. She improves their lot, begins an affair with a young foreign doctor, and publishes her husband's writings. All this time, he's hiding from a murder charge in a house across the square. Amazed, he watches her become his sexual and social equal. After the police drop the murder charge, will he disappear, end his life, or rejoin her on new terms?

　　在返回罗马的飞机上，一位著名记者沉迷于一场肆无忌惮、有点夸张的情色幻想，涉及他疏远的妻子和继女。Livia是一个试图重新获得丈夫Alberto感情的女人，他的新闻事业故意让他一次离开几个月。她不知道的是，他对他们的女儿莫妮卡有着不可否认的吸引力。Livia自己的性怪癖导致她雇佣年轻女性与Alberto发生性关系，而她则躲起来听。当莫妮卡也想参与进来时，她父母身份的真实真相就暴露了。导演乔瓦尼·索尔达蒂（Giovanni Soldati）决定让现实生活中的母女组合斯特凡妮娅（Stefania）和阿曼达·桑德雷利（Amanda Sandrelli）出演，从而将这一怪癖进一步提升一个档次。考虑到他的长期伴侣是斯特凡妮娅·桑德雷利，这部电影真的是一个家庭事务。