It's a Hard Life

Giacinto lives with his wife, their ten children and various other family members in a shack on the hills of Rome. Some time ago he has lost his left eye while at work, and got a consistent sum of money from the insurance company, which he keeps hidden from the rest of the family. His whole life is now based on defending the money he sees as his own, while the rest of the family tries to kill him.

Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it happen.

Ulisse, Fulvio and Domenico decide to rent an apartment together in order to live with their modest work. However the three encounter any difficulties that have forced them to always be one step away from starvation. Ulisse has to maintain his wife and daughter selling recordings of important foreign singers, Fulvio has the task of reviewing silly scandals of celebrities instead of writing articles for major artists, while Domenico must keep his wife and children going to make love with old single pensioners.

A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.

A teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan during the 1990s discovers that her father is having an affair.