Gerardo, an aspiring actor, trying unsuccessfully to cross over from comedy to tragedy, is involved, due to his ability to mimic dialects of Italy, in a scam concocted by Lallo against a rich cloth-merchant.
Turi, having returned to Sicily from abroad, learns that his sister Maruzza is the lover of Cosimo Barrese, a militant of the Movement for the Independence of Sicily, who, abandoned by everyone, has become a bandit. The two would like to get married, but life as an outlaw seems an insurmountable obstacle. Turi asks for revenge on the bandit who has dishonored the family and uses a shady and devious lawyer to drive him into a trap.
The merchant Giovanni Illes is tracked down by the debtors, but cannot pay his debts. To save her father from bankruptcy, Anna talks to the lawyer, trying to earn an extension. The lawyer grants it to him, but he gets too close, even physically. She wants to defend herself, but his power dominates the impotence of the woman.
