The lives and loves of five Italian telephone operators. One is betrayed by her husband, one helps a student who wants to take his life, one changes her boyfriend every other day, one is a single mother and the last one tries to inflame a recent-widower accountant.

After World War 2, a newly married couple travel to Italy on their honeymoon and visit the town where the husband fought. The town, however, holds some secrets.

A lovely, incisive portrait of adolescents in the crowded San Giovanni quarter of Rome during the last years of WWII.

During Fascism and after WWII, a school porter sacrifices himself so his son, who is slightly ashamed of a lowly background, can become a respected professor.The film also takes a few jabs at Italy's rapid governmental reshuffles.