Risi is considered to be one of the masters of the Commedia all'Italiana and a annalist of the bitter sentimentality and lighter side of Italy's post-war economic boom. Thursday is the day that misfit father and ex-husband, Dino Versini (Walter Chiari), is to meet his biological son, Robertino, whom he has not seen for four years. In order to regain the child's affection, and in a feign attempt to equal the higher social status his ex-wife has re-married into, he takes his son out, pretending to be able to enjoy a much higher standard of living than he can really afford.