Monica Cervini

Rome, 1947. The war is over but in the eternal city is still open and obvious wounds of the conflict. In the maternity ward of a hospital, nine women are waiting to give birth...

At a farmhouse, a large family cooks mountains of food for the next day's engagement party for Silvia and her city fiancé, Angelo. Her parents feud about infidelity; an aging salesman who rents a cottage from them arrives with a young French woman; in Bologna, Angelo's mother frets that her son is marrying beneath him; his sisters are less critical. Early the next morning, the four of them go by train to the farmhouse, joined by Angelo's married, unpregnant sister. The day-long dinner is riotous, couples display affection and impatience, children chase angels. Angelo's family stays the night, and his sister Linda has a visitor. A silver elephant makes the perfect gift.

Cameras follow the citizens of Rome as they go about their days and traverse the city. At dawn, a man leaves home and takes the bus, while a group of Chinese people do morning yoga exercises.

The story of a 18-year-old, grown up without the love of a family, and his relationships with adult women, trying to get back to normal.