Ray Hunter [Dean Martin] is a wealthy hotel mogul who flies to Rome to buy the Regent, a move that sets the story in motion. He is greeted at the airport by Maria Martelli [Eva Bartok], who works for the Regent’s owner, Countess Alzani [Evelyn Varden]. The Countess openly questions the way Ray builds an empire—“ten thousand bedrooms” is the scale she cites—warning that such impersonal purchases can leave staff without a place to belong. Ray listens, promises that the Regent’s people will not be treated as mere numbers, and earns Maria’s honest smile as a kind of ally for the day.
On the ride back into central Rome, Maria teases Ray about his business coldness, and he doesn’t rebuke her honesty. Instead, he welcomes her candor, and she offers to act as his translator for the staff introductions that afternoon. When she stops at her home to change, Ray meets the Martelli clan, including Papà Vittorio [Marcel Dalio] and the other daughters. Nina [Anna Maria Alberghetti], the youngest at eighteen, instantly takes a shine to Ray, while Maria’s own heart seems entangled with Anton [Paul Henreid], a Polish count who imagines himself a sculptor. Nearby, Nina’s eyes occasionally drift toward Ray, while her sister’s private pilot Mike [Dewey Martin] quietly pursues Nina’s affections.
Nina accompanies Ray on a tour of the city, and the young woman makes her intent clear: she wants to marry him. She asks Papa Vittorio for permission, but the family rule runs deep: in this clan, the eldest daughters must be wed before the youngest can marry, a tradition Vittorio doubles down on with firm resolve. Ray, ever practical, tries to move things along by summoning two eligible American bachelors to the house and introducing them to the sisters—an attempt to hurry the matchmaking, though the plan risks fraying nerves and tempers. In a well-meaning misstep, Ray buys Anton’s artwork to bolster the poor count’s confidence in proposing to Maria, a gesture that backfires: Maria is furious at the manipulation, and Ray must offer a sincere apology, sealed with a kiss.
As the party atmosphere swirls with negotiation and mistaken intentions, Ray suddenly realizes he is entangled with the wrong sister. The tension comes to a head when Vittorio blurts out that Ray is engaged to Nina, hastily shoving Mike’s jealousy into the foreground. Mike—who has been pulled into the drama by his own affections for Nina—decides to leave, though Ray begs him to stay and fight for the woman he loves. The consequence of these crosscurrents forces Ray to recalibrate his strategy and his affections, while the family watches and hopes for a stable match that will honor their traditions and allow genuine affection to flourish.
In the end, perseverance and a little clever maneuvering steer the romance toward a hopeful resolution. Ray secures a long-term arrangement for Anton, sending him to Bombay for an extended assignment that will give him independence and purpose. More importantly, Ray wins Maria’s trust by showing his sincerity and patience, and the proud Papa Vittorio begins to see a future in which four weddings might be celebrated under the Regent’s roof. The result is a warmer, more familial tone to the tale, with love, commitment, and the promise of new beginnings taking center stage as Rome glows in the background.
