The life and artistic journey of Neapolitan actor Massimo Troisi.
Andrea, Maurizio and Sergio are professional idlers, lazy, indolent and full of inventiveness. Maurizio is engaged to the policewoman Anna, of whom he is extremely jealous, Sergio still lives with his mother and Andrea is tyrannized by his wife and his brother-in-law, a former boxer. When a crew arrives in town to shoot a commercial, Andrea and Sergio meet two actresses; in the meantime, Maurizio is dumped by Anna. The three spend a large sum of money on a scratch card to travel to Sardinia in search of the actresses in the commercial.
Had come of age and unemployed, Peter decides to go back to school to take the elementary school. However, his academic performance continues to be poor so much so that his grandmother to play for the votes of a report card to the football pools coupon. The grandmother with the votes of Peter will win, using the amount paid to renew their tavern, without giving any money to his nephew, who will retaliate by closing all his family in the bathrooms of the new restaurant. Eventually Peter was rejected despite the efforts of his teachers, but Peter does not seem to be over: receives, in fact, a visit to Camazzo, her neighbor and Head of the third class of the Navy, which gives him an envelope containing the fateful "call to Arms".
Teresa is a nurse and does not have an easy life: her husband plays poker and next to her she sleeps only and the father organizes the illegal lot among the sick. So one night Teresa is involved, in spite of herself, in a whirlwind of ambiguous situations, together with Ferdinando and Friariello, met by chance, between camorristi, dog races and a bingo of which he unknowingly becomes the prize. But "has to pass" to "nuttata", this is certain, but how?
A doorman and a street cleaner, intrigued by the passage of Halley's Comet, ask Professor Bellavista if they can observe the sky through his telescope. The two, instead of observing the comet, end up framing a window of the apartment opposite and believe they have discovered a crime. So they set out in search of the body.
Oronzo Canà is called to coach Longobarda, the football team of a small town of Northern Italy, newly promoted to the First Division. His only task is not to be relegated, but Longobarda's owner plots against him, finding the team's current ranking far too expensive, and his top Brazilian striker is affected by a deep saudade.
In Naples, Professor Bellavista is a retired man, passionate about the philosophy and thought of Ancient Greece. Every day, in his luxurious apartment, he teaches his lessons of life to the poor-nothing (his friends), who are dazzled by his reasoning. One day, however, the quiet life of the building of Bellavista will be disturbed by the arrival of a director of Milan. Between Naples and Milan there contrast, because the Neapolitans are accustomed to enjoy a quiet life, always based on the "philosophy of pleasure and delay", while the northern Italians are very strict and punctual.
It is the story of a man and two women. Carlo, is a photojournalist from Rome. His wife Olga is a model in Paris (and in the first sequence of the film we see her being raped by an Indian in a fountain; but she laughs and says to the attacker: "It's the first time you have violated someone , right? " Then there is O, a Japanese fawn that Carlo meets at Idroscalo, on the places of the Pasolinian martyrdom, and immediately falls in love with it, He sees her pee, follows her and in a very short time throws the faith to the sea (literally) and ends up in bed with her.