A young Italian sailor enrolled in the Italian Navy meets in Rome the Princess Liu, betrothed to a nobleman in Tokyo.

In an industrializing Italian town, a married woman, rendered mentally unstable after a traffic accident, drifts into an affair with a friend of her husband.

A day in a tribunal where the defendants are: the manager of a soccer team, charged with bribery, two Sicilians who have sold fake archaeological findings, two nuns who have offended a public servant and an industry manager.

Giulio and Armando, both married, attempt an escape from their respective married lives, invent a secret mission and leaves for the south.

Summer, 1943: wealthy youth in the Riccione district of Rimini play while the war gets closer. Carlo Caremoli, a young man who follows the crowd, has found ways to avoid military service. Then, on the beach, he meets Roberta, a war widow with a child. Roberta's mother warns Roberta to avoid Carlo, but to her, he seems attentive and to her daughter he is kind. Romance develops. Within a few weeks, Roberta is risking everything. Can there be a resolution between passion, on the one hand, and war, duty, and social expectation on the other?

Gabriella, a maid, wears a jewel at a dancing party which belongs to her mistress, and when it is stolen she is accused of the theft and sent to jail. Some other maids organize a search party for the real thief who seems to be a moustached youth who continually sings a popular song.

A mad scientist pursues a man hoping to study his brain.

A young French girl, Yvonne, having won a competition, goes to Capri for a short break. There she meets Baron Vanvutelli, an old-fashioned old man, Mario, a Roman student, who came to spend the Sunday at Capri, along with two friends, Renato and Julius.

Renato Tuzzi, a primary school teacher, is a shy man, unable to be respected by the turbulent kids.

Aging small-time conman Augusto works with two younger men: Roberto, who desires to become the Italian Johnny Ray, and Bruno, nicknamed Picasso. Through a series of mishaps and personal entanglements, things go badly for Augusto.

During the fascist era, Adriana a beautiful young model, becomes a prostitute after a love affair gone wrong. She meets Mino, a partisan who falls in love with her and wants to redeem her.

An unworthy nephew, with the help of a girl who seduces the young guardian, robs the aunt of the family jewels. He also manages to put the blame for the theft on the caretaker, engaged to a young woman who is actually the woman's natural daughter. The thief also tries to blackmail his aunt by threatening to reveal the truth after so many years, but a commissioner manages to prove the innocence of the suspect and the guilt of his nephew.

Giorgio Venturini's take on the classic "Man in the Iron Mask" story.

Six episodes (adapted from as many short stories: Gozzano, D'Annunzio, Guido Rocca, Marino Moretti, Alba de Céspedes and Oreste Biancoli), six love stories set in different moments in italian recent history.

In the movie La valigia dei sogni (The Suitcase of Dreams, Italy, 1953) directed by Luigi Comencini, some sequences from Cenere are inserted. The protagonist is a former silent film actor who has saved old movies of his time from destruction, and uses them to set up recreational performances at schools. After an accidental fire and the risk of prison, he meets a rich producer who helps him to build a film museum.

In a small provincial Italian town, a fifteen-year-old boy meets and falls in love with a girl.

Tino Scotti plays a man who is tricked into trying to kill himself. When all his attempts fail, he is believed to be immortal.