Gianni, Antonio and Nicola are resistance fighters during the war. After it, they return to their lives. Antonio becomes a nurse in Rome and falls in love with a girl named Luciana. Gianni becomes an assistant in a law firm, the head of which, La Rosa, is running as a deputy candidate for the Socialist Party. Nicola returns to teaching in a small town high school, gets married and has a child, Tommasino.
Three years after the war, Antonio is with Luciana at a restaurant when Gianni happens to pass by. Thrilled, Antonio starts talking about their days in the resistance. Unbeknownst to him, Luciana and Gianni fall in love with each other.
One night, Gianni and Luciana admit their affair to Antonio. When the new couple leaves, Antonio runs after them and attacks Gianni.
Meanwhile, Nicola loses his teaching job after a violent argument with his superior about a movie.[a] Leaving his wife and son, Nicola moves to Rome.
Gianni and Luciana live happily and start to have family projects. Gianni gets a promotion, working for the firm as a lawyer. He is asked to defend in court a real estate constructor who had two of his employees die on a site for not respecting security measures. Gianni refuses, lying about the refusal being due to the problems of La Rosa, now a deputy, who is accused of political and financial misconducts. Elide, the client's youngest daughter, eventually meets Gianni and falls in love with him. The client later tries to bribe him into taking the case. Gianni neither accepts nor refuses. Meanwhile, Nicola tries to work as a movie critic and start a film magazine, but fails everywhere.
Years later, Antonio and Nicola have lunch at their usual restaurant when Luciana enters. The three start talking and Luciana asks about Gianni, whom she has not seen in a long time.
That night, the three are drunk. Antonio, however, cannot stand Nicola and argues with Luciana. She says that she can do whatever she pleases, even becoming an actress. Antonio leaves, pissed, while she hides in a photo-booth. Nicola tries to calm Antonio down. He fails and returns to Luciana who has left. She was crying.
Gianni receives a letter from Nicola saying that Luciana has tried to commit suicide and visits her. Luciana has tried a career on stage but has failed. She lives in a hotel room with other artists. Antonio is nursing her. When Nicola arrives, she asks him if Antonio knows about "them". Nicola slaps her. She says that their two night story is over and apologizes to Antonio, who starts a fight, saying that he took advantage of her.
When Luciana feels better, they all leave the hotel. She takes a bus, and the two men go their separate ways. Gianni secretly watches this, unable to find the courage to approach them.
Years later, Gianni has married Elide and is now a rich lawyer with two children. They are partying for his client's 69th birthday. Elide says how happy she is to be Gianni's wife and mentions that other life she would have had if he had married another woman. This makes Gianni remember Luciana.
While having dinner, Gianni and Elide see Nicola on TV in a quiz show about Italian cinema. Nicola answers all the questions right and wins a lot of money and the right to return the following week for more. He calls his wife, with whom he is reconciled. Nicola wants his book about cinema to be published, which an editor promised to do if he won the show's grand prize.
The next show begins. Nicola plays double or nothing, risking to lose all that he has won. He is asked a question about Vittorio de Sica. His answer is eventually deemed wrong by the jury. He complains and ends up expelled from the show, losing the money.
One night, Antonio is in an ambulance blocked by the shooting of a film.[b] There, he sees an actress, Luciana. She has become an alcoholic. Antonio tries to ask Luciana out when her impresario shows up and says that she will be busy. Antonio starts a fight. She asks not to see him again.
A decade later, Gianni is a businessman and quarrels with his father-in-law over a real estate project. They come to blows and the father-in-law sees he is too old and weak to stop Gianni. He gives him power to decide over the business.
Antonio has a new wife. The couple is strolling in a public garden when they meet Luciana, who works as an usher and lives alone with her young son. She asks about Gianni, but Antonio has no news from him. Antonio and her start to see more of each other.
Gianni has a mansion in the countryside and perpetually avoids Elide. One day, desperate to talk to him, she catches him as he goes to work. Elide confesses to have met, in her despair, another man. He thinks that she is lying to upset him. Distraught, she takes her car, starts the engine and commits suicide.
Meanwhile, at a festival, De Sica tells an anecdote proving that Nicola was right in his answer in the show. A saddened Nicola refuses to go talk to De Sica, his idol, saying that he has no more to say to him.
Antonio is driving to Rome when he sees Gianni. The two talk, realizing that they have not seen each other in years. Gianni pretends to be broke. They agree on meeting with Nicola, who is now a stringer for a newspaper. Gianni does not plan to attend the meeting and returns to his mansion. His children are gone, and only his father-in-law remains. Distraught, Gianni decides to reunite with his old friends.
The three meet in the usual restaurant. Gianni eventually says that they are a generation of bastards who did nothing to fulfill the hopes they had for a better world. They blame each other's political views and fight again, drunk in the streets. When they stop, Nicola breaks into tears of joy, revealing that Tommasino is getting married.
They all take a car and visit Antonio's wife, who turns up to be Luciana. When talking alone with Luciana, Gianni says that he always remained in love with her. Luciana says that she did not think of him one bit. Gianni leaves while Nicola realizes that he has Gianni's driving license in his pocket.
The next morning, Nicola, Antonio and Luciana visit Gianni and realize that he lied about being broke. They leave the license at the door and start arguing again.
