Carlo and Silvia live together in Rome in the fashionable "Parioli" quarter. He doesn't hide the fact that he's having an affair with Lou, a young woman he sees in the country, and he doesn't mind Silvia being pursued by other men. But when Carlo realizes that Silvia is attracted to a young man she describes as being uneducated and violent, the couple is caught up in the deadly spiral of a sexual melodrama.