Acting
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.
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...
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.
