In his first collaboration with renowned screenwriter and longtime partner Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica examines the cataclysmic consequences of adult folly on an innocent child. Heralding the pair’s subsequent work on some of the masterpieces of Italian neorealism, The Children Are Watching Us is a vivid, deeply humane portrait of a family’s disintegration.

Nicoletta is a young rebel, cherished by his forgiving father, until an old relative joins the family after the wedding of her sister, and insists that the impetuous girl is sent to college. Nicoletta becomes a true tornado for educators trying in vain to bring her under control.

A crime novel writer is experiencing writer's block while writing his latest book. Then a woman is murdered in his home, and this crime gives him inspiration to finish his novel. Without noticing, he even founds the real culprit.

During the Spanish occupation of Naples, the people led by Tommaso Aniello - known as "Masaniello" - plot against the Viceroy. The Viceroy's son, under another name, has a son from Masaniello's sister, but his father has already planned a marriage for him with a Spanish patrician against his wishes.