When a disbelieving friend, who had witnessed Gasparini's recent escapade about ten days prior, reveals this information, the doctor rushes home but arrives too late to prevent Noemi from being seduced.

Osvaldo Bisigato, an unassuming bank employee burdened by an oppressive and resentful wife, Gilda, who incessantly reproaches him for failures and a lack of ambition, believes he can embark on a new life by eloping with Milena Zulian, the young and beautiful cashier from the bar frequented by the group.

However, while betrayal is tacitly tolerated, social norms reject separation, prompting the entire town to unite against him: Gilda's cousin (the influential Ippolita, Gasparini's wife), the so-called "friends," the employer, the parish priest, and even the carabinieri commander.

Alda Cristofoletto, a young and beautiful country girl (characterized as white as milk and tough as marble by the shoe salesman Lino Benedetti), arrives in town for shopping and attracts the attention of a group of womanizers.

She offers him a substantial sum of money in return, satisfying her own carnal desires and securing a considerable portion of the funds collected for "mediation," ostensibly intended for the poor.