Four stories, humorous, romantic or dramatic, are linked by a counterfeit gold sovereign. It is made by the honest engraver in the first story, seduced by the charms of a young widow, and it subsequently passes into the hands of a beggar and a prostitute, a wealthy miser and a newly married couple where the husband is a poor artist.
After losing his son in WW2, a poor cobbler has become a drunkard and laughing stock of the whole neighborhood, besetting his daughter. When his daughter falls in love with a rich young man, he tries in vain to hide his passion from the young man's family...
Katerina, a poor girl, finds a job as a secretary and falls in love with her boss on a trip to Rome.
