Francesca and Walter are two-bit criminals in Northern Italy, and, in an effort to avoid the police, Francesca joins a group of women rice workers. She meets the voluptuous peasant rice worker, Silvana, and the soon-to-be-discharged soldier, Marco. Walter follows her to the rice fields, and the four characters become involved in a complex plot involving robbery, love, and murder.

Paola, a Milan call girl, returns home to her village in the Abruzzi mountains in an attempt to go straight. Rejected by her father, blackmailed by a former lover, and lusted after by her brother-in-law, she turns to her beloved sister for support. Denied succor, like so many of Rossellini’s isolated figures, Paola awaits the arrival of her fiancé, who has offered her a new start, but instead decides that life is untenable.

Ernesto is the teacher of the village, he is married and he is dominated by his wife. He has the passion of the theatre and he has written a drama in verse named "Il ratto delle Sabine". Unfortunately he has only an admirer and she is their servant Rosina. When the touring company of Prof. Tromboni arrives in the village, Ernesto decides to let them perform his play, though anonymously. So the day arrives and the theatre is sadly empty. But when the news that the author is the teacher spreads far and wide...