All the newspapers claim that Michel Jourdan killed his ex-lover, and his lawyer, Massimo Girotti tries to build his case on asking for clemency. Jourdan insists he is innocent, so Girotti does what investigating he can, with contact with witnesses forbidden him. Despite his fiancee being miffed because he seems to think an accused murderer's life is more important that me time, he and his typist, Marina Berti speak with Giulietta Masina, the mother of his child, and try to track down a mysterious woman called Greta. But they encounter suspicion in the collection of shacks and sheds where the witnesses live. After Girotti demolishes one of the witnesses, Giulio Calì, in court, Calì tells the men with his dog that he is, indeed, a wretch and hangs himself. Girotti doesn't understand. Signorina Berti shouts at him.
It all ends up with Girotti giving a great and passionate closing speech in court, arguing prejudice against the underclass and what in America would be called reasonable doubt. We never get to see the effects of this speech on the court, but in this obvious mix of neo-realism and a detective story, it doesn't really matter. The upper classes have wealth, position and certainty, while the poor hope in vain for enough work to sustain life.
