Five young men dream of success as they drift lazily through life in a small Italian village. Fausto, the group's leader, is a womanizer; Riccardo craves fame; Alberto is a hopeless dreamer; Moraldo fantasizes about life in the city; and Leopoldo is an aspiring playwright. As Fausto chases a string of women, to the horror of his pregnant wife, the other four blunder their way from one uneventful experience to the next.

A viscount is ruined and wants to commit suicide. A young noceur pursued by his creditors is to inherit 60 million on condition that he marries a widow. The latter proposes to the former to do him the favor of marrying his mistress before committing suicide in order to fulfill the conditions of the will, while marrying the woman he likes. But once married, the viscount regains a taste for life. Everything will work out in everyone's best interests.

MS Lidvard was shipping corn from Vietnam, arriving in Dakar, Senegal May 30th 1940. The ship was immediately held back by the government, together with eight other norwegian ships. After a year, July 27th 1941, the ship fled from Dakar, to the British in Freetown, Sierra Leone.