Vittorio de Sica co-writes and directs this Italian drama starring Sophia Loren. In 1943, at the height of the Second World War, widowed shopkeeper Cesira (Loren) leaves her grocery store in Rome to escape the bombing of the Allies. Along with her teenage daughter, Rosetta (Eleonora Brown), she heads for her native, rural village of Ciociaria. The road is long and arduous but when they arrive in the mountains, the women meet Michel Di Libero (Jean-Paul Belmondo), with whom Rosetta quickly falls in love. When the Allied troops eventually leave Italy, Cesira decides to return to Rome with her daughter only for them both to experience the horrors of war that they had hoped to escape. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film while Loren won a BAFTA and an Academy Award for her performance.

An engaged man hears that his mistress is dying, and spontaneously promises to marry her if she survives. This she does, and holds him to his promise. After they are married, she gives him another surprise: three fully grown sons! Sophia Loren received an Oscar nomination for her performance in this comedy.

French drama directed by Max Ophuls and based on the novel by Louise de Vilmorin. The film revolves around an 18th century Countess named Louise (Danielle Darrieux) who sells off the earrings given to her as a wedding gift from her officer husband in order to clear some debts. This action sets in motion a number of events that jeopardise her social position and threaten to destroy her marriage while the earrings pass through several hands, travelling as far as Constantinople before coming full circle and returning to Paris and Louise in the possession of Baron Donati (Vittorio De Sica).

Collection of four short stories, each directed by one of Italy's most famous directors, focusing on women taking back control of their lives. Mario Monicelli's tale 'Renzo and Luciana' concerns two lovers, played by Germano Gilioli and Marisa Solinas, who must keep their wedding secret from their employers to avoid the sack. Anita Ekberg stars in Federico Fellini's story 'The Temptation of Dr. Antonio', about a prudish censor who tries to ban a huge billboard of the star, only to be haunted by its alluring gaze. In Luchino Visconti's 'The Job', a countess (Romy Schneider) decides to get a job after the scandalous exposure of her husband's infidelities. Finally, in 'The Raffle', Vittorio De Sica tells the story of Zoe (Sophia Loren), who offers herself in a lottery to help pay her pregnant sister's taxes, but who decides to call off the deal when she falls for a local stable boy.