It is the 1950s in Rome. Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) is a journalist who tends to cover the more pulpy and sensational side of the news. He work pays the bills but is personally unfulfilling to him. His daily fodder for his tabloid reports includes movie stars, religious zealots, and the Italian aristocracy. The film follows Marcello through seven days and nights in his life. Marcello is living with Emma (Yvonne Furneaux), a woman who loves him and wants a traditional marriage. But she has a shortcoming in that she is possessive and quite unable to understand Marcello's personal search for value and meaning in his life. Marcello has encounters with other women – Maddalena (Anouk Aimée), a beautiful, wealthy, and jaded friend/lover, and Sylvia (Anita Ekberg), an American movie star whom he has covered. Marcello also briefly meets an unspoiled and charming girl working at a beachside restaurant who inspires him to find a new path for his life though he seems lost adrift in his own complacent life.