A poignant look at the desperation of life in a working-poor family in post-WW2 Italy. After a desparate search, a man gets a menial but satisfactory job that requires one thing: He must have a bicycle.

On the first day on the job, the bike is stolen and the man spends the rest of the film in pursuit of the bicycle thieves. Along the way he encounters injustice and apathy. From beginning to end, his small but fierce son is his companion, with whom he learns what real desperation can mean.

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