In 1941 an Italian regiment known as the Savoy Cavalry is sent by Mussolini to Russia to assist the German invasion. After crossing an extensive area of Soviet territory the men arrive at a village that seems deserted. A patrol sent on reconnaissance comes under machine-gun fire from the top of a bell-tower.
A group of boys calling themselves The Monte Cristo gang find a note from an innocent prisoner and set out to free him from a fortress-like prison.
The Milanese Luigi Pizzigoni, photographer, and the Neapolitan barber Peppino Avallone, resident in Milan, are opponents in the sports field. The first is a proud Inter supporter, while the second is from Napoli.
A man and his girlfriend struggle to find some time for themselves.
In the movie La valigia dei sogni (The Suitcase of Dreams, Italy, 1953) directed by Luigi Comencini, some sequences from Cenere are inserted. The protagonist is a former silent film actor who has saved old movies of his time from destruction, and uses them to set up recreational performances at schools. After an accidental fire and the risk of prison, he meets a rich producer who helps him to build a film museum.
In the prison of San Vittore there is, among other detainees, a strange type that they call "Il Cavaliere". The latter suffers a conviction for theft and his fellow prisoners have a certain respect for him.
Joys and disappointments of three young girls who dreaming of making a career in film: Luisa has talent and triumphs; Franca tries to seduce a producer, however no artistic skills, Giuditta, the most inexperienced and naive, will have to choose between the dream of cinema and the reality of a marriage.
Bored with her bourgeois life, the young Maria Variani, daughter of a professor, meets Bruno, who is part of an amateur jazz group, and allows herself to be persuaded to join the band that plays during the radio program "The microphone is yours".
