这是一个浪漫有趣但有着悲剧式结局的故事。一位匈亚利画家在巴黎与一女孩相遇并坠入爱河，突然发现画家的卧室有一条女内裤。画家虽然纯洁无辜，但他对这条内裤的解释却滑稽而令人不能相信。所以当画家说出事实时，女孩非常生气，尽管她决心忘记画家的“外遇”。接下来的事就更严重了，女孩是个穷孩子，她唯恐说出真相后画家会对她不感兴趣，所以编造说自己是个富家女儿，有一个私人司机。她还带上画家到教堂参加家族葬礼，与自己亲戚见面并告诫亲戚们不要多说话。最后谎言暴露，女孩冲出去，被一辆车撞倒，在医院里他们又言归于好，可惜的是女孩几天后将要死亡…

这是一个浪漫有趣但有着悲剧式结局的故事。一位匈亚利画家在巴黎与一女孩相遇并坠入爱河，突然发现画家的卧室有一条女内裤。画家虽然纯洁无辜，但他对这条内裤的解释却滑稽而令人不能相信。所以当画家说出事实时，女孩非常生气，尽管她决心忘记画家的“外遇”。接下来的事就更严重了，女孩是个穷孩子，她唯恐说出真相后画家会对她不感兴趣，所以编造说自己是个富家女儿，有一个私人司机。她还带上画家到教堂参加家族葬礼，与自己亲戚见面并告诫亲戚们不要多说话。最后谎言暴露，女孩冲出去，被一辆车撞倒，在医院里他们又言归于好，可惜的是女孩几天后将要死亡…

犹太青年圭多（罗伯托·贝尼尼）邂逅美丽的女教师多拉（尼可莱塔·布拉斯基），他彬彬有礼的向多拉鞠躬：“早安！公主！”。历经诸多令人啼笑皆非的周折后，天遂人愿，两人幸福美满的生活在一起。然而好景不长，法西斯政权下，圭多和儿子被强行送往犹太人集中营。多拉虽没有犹太血统，毅然同行，与丈夫儿子分开关押在一个集中营里。聪明乐天的圭多哄骗儿子这只是一场游戏，奖品就是一辆大坦克，儿子快乐、天真的生活在纳粹的阴霾之中。尽管集中营的生活艰苦寂寞，圭多仍然带给他人很多快乐，他还趁机在纳粹的广播里问候妻子：“早安！公主！”法西斯政权即将倾覆，纳粹的集中营很快就要接受最后的清理，圭多编给儿子的游戏该怎么结束？他们一家能否平安的度过这黑暗的年代呢？

A romantic and funny love story with a tragic end. In Paris a young Hungarian artist (Monpti) and a girl (Anne-Claire) meet and fall in love. But just when she is prepared to give herself to him she finds a pair of lady's pants in his room. He is perfectly innocent but the reason why the pants are there is as humouristic as incredible. So when he tells the truth she gets very angry though she was prepared to "forgive" his "side step". Another pattern is much more serious. Anne-Claire fears that Monpti would have no interest in her if she told that she is a nobody. So she builds up a story of being a rich girl with a private chauffeur. She even takes Monpti to a family church funeral and points out all her relatives, even telling which ones are not on speaking terms. When he finally exposes her lies a violent explosion results. She runs away in despair and is overrun by a car. At the hospital their love returns. But she will die after a few days. - In the background of many scenes we have seen the couple who overrun Anne-Claire, and their shallow emotions were recurrently contrasted with the genuine love of the young couple.