Plot summary

During the hard years of poverty in post-World-War-II Rome, poor working-class family man Antonio is finally offered a modest bill-posting job, but a bicycle is required and he's already been forced to pawn his. His wife Maria promptly pawns the family's bed-linens to redeem their bicycle, but on Antonio's first day of work, the prized possession is stolen. Desperate, the ill-fated father and his older son Bruno will scour Rome's bustling streets on a gloomy Sunday to find the vital bicycle, but undoubtedly this is an impossible task. Will Antonio ever get his job back?—Nick Riganas