[1][2] Roberto, who has been estranged from his family, presumably because of his illegitimate birth, is called by his cousins Susanna and Giacomo to the reading of their uncle's final will and testament.

He learns that he, along with the other cousins, is to inherit a third of the estate but, hearing the harsh language used by his late uncle concerning his mother, abruptly refuses his share, and gets up to leave.

Roberto, meanwhile, has agreed to accept his share of the inheritance and, moved by Susanna's distress, resolves to revive the shipyard business with the prospect of keeping the house.

At that point, Giacomo, who confesses to having neither the courage nor the will to put in the required work, backs away from his inheritance and leaves for Montecarlo, where he hopes to strike it rich at the roulette table.

When Giacomo's threats of blackmail get him nowhere, he resorts to leaving the letter out for Viviana who he knows will divulge its contents to Roberto, thus to make him think that he and Susanna are still seeing each other behind his back.

He then questions Giacomo, who gleefully tells Roberto a pack of lies about himself and Susanna, with the added vengeful allegation that Lidia, their four-year-old daughter, is actually his own child.

She and the attorney set out together by train and bus to the stated location, but torrential rains cause a landslide that brings them to a halt 20 kilometers short of their destination.

Meanwhile, Giacomo, seeing his opportunity at last to blackmail Susanna into marrying him, now that Roberto has been convinced of her infidelity, decides abruptly to leave Viviana.

A mad woman, Luisa, whose old child had been killed in a landslide, hears the girl's cries for help, rescues her, and thinking she's her own daughter, whose name was Pinuccia, takes her to her hovel in the nearby forest.