Filumena Marturano is a former prostitute who has been living for years with Domenico Soriano, a wealthy Neapolitan pastry chef who was once her client. To force Soriano into marriage, the woman pretends to be dying in order to invoke a "deathbed" wedding, but the charade fails and Don Domenico tries everything he can to annul the sacrament. Filumena is forced to come clean.