This film is set in Italy in 1946, ie just after the end of the Second World War. It is based on a novel, 'La Stanza del Vescovo', by Piero Chiara.

The 'bishop's bedroom' of the title is located in a large villa owned by an aristocratic woman named Cleofe (played by Gabriella Giocobbe). She has been married for several years to a man named Mario (played by Ugo Tognazzi), who appears to have married her for her money, and has a habit of harassing younger women. The couple hate each other.

Cleofe has a brother named Angelo, who married a much younger woman named Matilde in 1936, when she was only 16 years old. He fought for Mussolini's army in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and was reported to be missing in action (believed to have been killed). Matilde is now living in the villa with Cleofe and Mario.

The novel is narrated by a character who is not related to any of the above four protagonists, but has just returned to Italy after spending several years in Switzerland to avoid being conscripted into the Italian army in the Second World War. In the film, this character is named Marco and is played by Patrick Dewaere.

Mario attaches himself to Marco, partly to get acquainted with some of Marco's female friends (there is some gratuitous nudity from two of them, played by Katia Tchenko and Karina Verlier). Mario also confides to Marco that Angelo was seriously wounded in the fighting in Ethiopia, but was not in fact killed: he has stayed in Ethiopia and has written letters to his sister Cleofe, but not to his wife Matilde. So both Cleofe and Mario know that Angelo is still alive, but his wife Matilde believes that he is dead.

The film features some beautiful photography around Lago Maggiore. The main weakness is that Mario is such a completely obnoxious character that it is difficult to keep watching him.