电影导演圭多（马塞洛·马斯楚安尼 Marcello Mastroianni 饰）在完成了一部影片之后感到筋疲力尽，他来到一处疗养地休息，同时开始构思下一部电影。他受到恶梦的困扰，精神不振，灵感也陷入停滞。他让情妇卡拉（桑德拉·米洛 Sandra Milo 饰）也来到疗养地和他作伴，但卡拉的到来反而增添了他的烦恼。此时，充满朝气的年轻女郎克劳迪娅（克劳迪娅·卡汀娜 Claudia Cardinale 饰）的出现，令圭多压抑的世界乍现出一抹亮色。然而随着圭多妻子路易莎（阿努克·艾梅 Anouk Aimée 饰）以及许多电影圈人士纷纷来到疗养地，圭多不堪忍受个人感情生活的混乱与电影拍摄的双重压力，他的精神危机愈演愈烈，梦境与幻觉不断侵入他的现实生活…… 　　本片荣获1964年奥斯卡最佳外语片和最佳服装设计（黑白片）两项大奖。

The famous writer Bernard travels to a small town nearby a lake to spend vacation out of season in the winter. He check in an old hotel owned by Enrico and his daughter Irma expecting to meet the maid Tilde, from whom he had a crush last time he visited the town. However, he discovers that Tilde has committed suicide and when he meets the local photographer, Bernard learns that she was pregnant. He becomes obsessed to find whether she really committed suicide and to guess what really happened. When Enrico's son Mario and his wife Adriana arrive at the hotel, Bernard has daydreams about the fate of Tilde.

Two narrators, one seen and one unseen, discuss possible connections between a series of paintings. The on-screen narrator walks through three-dimensional reproductions of each painting, featuring real people, sometimes moving, in an effort to explain the series' significance.