At the 7th Berlin International Film Festival Monicelli won the Silver Bear for Best Director award.

Vincenzo Corallo is a widowed tailor who has no control over his teenager daughter, Marcella, who skips school to go with her boyfriend, Sandro Bacci, to watch trials.

Vincenzo's son, Carlo, is the master of the family who can't stand his sister's bad manners and wants to put her back on the right track.

Anxious, Guido contacts a nurse, Ines Santarelli, who offers him injections for his pregnant wife.

She entrusts a sick son of theirs to her sister Rita, happy to welcome him, because she cannot have children with her husband Cesare.