In the fictional Venetian town of Rezega, a close-knit circle of merchants and professionals from the upper-middle class hides a tangled web of mutual betrayals that quietly undercuts their polished lives.
Toni Gasparini, a magnetic playboy both admired and feared by friends, confides in Dr Castellan, a trusted physician, admitting that he has been impotent for several months. This confession is meant to lower Castellan’s guard regarding his young and lively wife, Noemi. Insensitively, the doctor spreads this confidential information among friends, purely for gossip, unaware that he is inadvertently aiding Toni’s scheme. After a party, Castellan and the others press on with the night’s revelry at a nightclub, and Toni accompanies Noemi home. When a skeptical friend, who had witnessed Gasparini’s recent escapade about ten days earlier, reveals this information, the doctor rushes home but arrives too late to prevent Noemi from being seduced. He is forced to conceal the incident to preserve his own honor. The moment he leaves the house is marked by a stark, old-world vow: > and let it stay between us.
Osvaldo Bisigato, an unassuming bank employee, is crushed by his resentful wife, Gilda Bisigato, who constantly belittles his ambitions. He hatches a plan to elope with Milena Zulian, the young and beautiful cashier from the bar frequented by the group. Yet social norms frown upon separation, and the whole town turns against him: Ippolita Gasparini (the wife of one of the accused), the circle of “friends,” his employer, the parish priest, and even the carabinieri commander all combine to force him back into the illusion of a perfect marriage. Don Schiavon persuades Milena to leave town, and Bisigato, after a suicide attempt and a stay in a clinic, returns submissive and resigned.
Alda Cristofoletto, a young country girl described as white as milk and tough as marble by the local shoe salesman, Lino Benedetti, arrives in Rezega for a day of shopping and immediately attracts the attention of a group of womanizers. The next day, Bepi Cristofoletto, the girl’s father, reports them for corrupting a minor. To shield the town from scandal, powerful economic magnates and religious authorities silence the press, orchestrating a cover-up. Through a chain of calls, they coax the reporter Tosato to erase names so that no culprits remain. The calculating Ippolita Gasparini, wife of one of the accused, persuades the naïve Cristofoletto to withdraw the complaint, offering him a substantial sum in return. The deal serves her own desires and secures a sizable portion of the funds meant for “mediation,” supposedly intended for the poor, leaving the community’s integrity frayed and the truth buried beneath money and rumors.
