Five young men linger in a postadolescent limbo, dreaming of adventure and escape from their small seacoast towm. They while away their time spending the lira doled out by their indulgent families on drink, women and nights at the local pool hall. Federico Fellini's second solo directorial effort (originally released in the U.S. as THE YOUNG AND THE PASSIONATE) is a semiautobiographical masterpiece of sharply drawn character sketches: skirt chaser Fausto, forced to marry a girl he has impregnated; Alberto, the perpetual child; Leopoldo, a writer thirsting for fame; and Moraldo, the only member of the group troubled by a moral conscience.