Antonio is an old World War II veteran with a limp, plagued by the recurring memory of the young soldier who committed suicide right before his very eyes. Angelo, an ex-watchmaker, has a hellish personality and is almost blind; Tobia is mentally ill. Antonio hangs around the train station every day, always drunk, while the other two wander around in search of something to eat. One day, in a huge junk yard, the three tramps find Maria, an alcoholic who’s reached the end of the line. She is taken to the hospital, treated, and released in a short time. Angelo falls in love with her. When they return to the little house where they live each one lies down on their little mattress, Maria by Angelo’s side. Maria takes one last sip from a can of beer and, drunk again, she falls asleep. The next morning they find her still lying there, lifeless. Angelo can’t take it, and he runs away. In the cemetery, after he bids Maria a last goodbye, he can no longer make sense of his existence. He takes his own life, throwing himself underneath a passing car. For Antonio and Tobia life goes on as if nothing ever happened: they’re bums.