Umberto Domenico Ferrari, a retired civil servant, played by Carlo Battisti, struggles to get by on a meagre state pension in post-war Rome. He takes to the streets in protest, alongside scores of agitated pensioners who are easily forced back in retreat. His rental debt to a tyrannical landlady, in whose house he has been resident for twenty years, escalates beyond hope. As part-payment, but to his shame, Umberto's room is hired out to prostitutes by the hour. His only friends are an adoring dog, Flik, and the pregnant maid, Maria, played by Maria-Pia Casilio, in whom our leading man confides.
