A number of different segments taken from 19th century Italian stories.

A film made up of four episodes: a jar repairer gets trapped in a vat because of his hunch; a young unmarried mother is forced to beg to buy herself a fan; Rosario Chiarchiaro appears before a law court for casting spells; the discomfort of an overtight jacket gives a wedding witness the strength to persuade the bridegroom's reluctant parents to bless his union.

After dying in a car accident, wealthy shoe industrialist Carlo Bacchi finds himself in the afterlife, where he is condemned to hell for having committed evil while alive. Defending himself against the accusation in an impassioned plea, however, he succeeds in obtaining to return to earth for a few hours to make reparation for the evil he committed and, above all, for the bad deed that caused Amedeo Santini's suicide attempt. The affair will lead him to make a risky but happy choice.

Aldo Piscitello, a minor government clerk, is forced in 1934 to join the Fascist party. When the war comes, he finds himself able only to talk ineffectually in secret against Mussolini, even as his own son Giovanni is sent into battle. By the end of the war, Aldo has found the courage to stand up for his beliefs, but by then it is too late.