After escaping from a gang of perverts, innocent and beautiful Nancy, an American hitchhiker, flees to the sun-kissed summer villa of the lascivious elderly millionaire, Joseph Noblart, nestled somewhere in the Amalfi Coast. But, there, too, an endless array of eccentrics awaits the statuesque, blue-eyed beauty. There's Alex, a lecherous former procurer with peculiar tendencies; a German nurse enchanted by the work of Friedrich Nietzsche; a pair of tanned lesbians; a pianist with arthritis, and...

Guido is a film director, trying to relax after his last big hit. He can't get a moment's peace, however, with the people who have worked with him in the past constantly looking for more work. He wrestles with his conscience, but is unable to come up with a new idea. While thinking, he starts to recall major happenings in his life, and all the women he has loved and left. An autobiographical film of Fellini, about the trials and tribulations of film making.