A young, by-the-book judge is appointed to a Sicilian village controlled by corrupt leaders and the mafia.

A day in a tribunal where the defendants are: the manager of a soccer team, charged with bribery, two Sicilians who have sold fake archaeological findings, two nuns who have offended a public servant and an industry manager.

In a post-war Rome (1946) a cat burglar inadvertently saves the life of a would-be suicide man who returns from the war to find that he has been betrayed by his fiancée while fighting in the war. From that moment the thief takes the ex-soldier under his wing. They leave house together for a night full of misadventures. In a streets of Rome they meet the struggling typist who can’t pay her rent and opts to street life; a wandering amnesiac who lost his memory and keeps asking everyone “Do you recognize me?”. Thieves, gamblers, hookers, policemen, soldiers and endless chain of cigarette-smoking and alcohol/espresso-drinking.