Mario, a rich and eccentric war hero befriends Marco, a loner with a sailboat, and takes him home to meet his estranged wife Cleofe and sexually repressed sister in law Matilde. Mario confesses his love for Matilde and so ensues a love triangle.
At age 50, tax inspector Emerenziano decides to settle down and aims to the three Tettamanzi sisters, who, though not young or pretty by any means, have recently inherited a large amount of money.
In Luino, on Lake Maggiore, during the fascist twenty years, a group of friends belonging to the bourgeoisie spend the nights in the underground gambling den of the Metropolitan Hotel between poker games, gossip, manly goliards and escapades to the house of tolerance.
