An Italian prison official's wife is kidnapped, and the kidnappers demand that a notorious prisoner be released in order for the man to get his wife back. He gets the man released - but then kidnaps him himself, in order to ensure that the man's colleagues don't kill his wife. Enraged, the gang sets out to free their compatriot and kill the man who took him.

Barbara is a journalist investigating the local counterculture who becomes involved, after an unpleasant start of battery and stalking, with Pierre Clémenti's louche all-around dropout.

A petty hoodlum pulls jewellery store heists in broad daylight. The cop on his tail knows he has accomplices and focuses on the gangster's girl friend is his attempt to catch him.