Studying to become a teacher in 1950s Northern Italy, Sicilian immigrant Pietro is joined by his big brother Giovanni. Pietro shows considerable promise in his field, prompting illiterate Giovanni to take on even the toughest jobs in order to support his sibling's academic pursuits.

As in an endless sequence shot, the stories of some friends intertwine: Paolo is a writer who can't finish his novel due to perfectionism, Maria, his girlfriend, feels neglected and enters the circle of "protégés" of a schoolmate of Paolo, Francesco. Michela, a friend of Maria, falls in love with Marco while Paolo's father meets with Petra, a high-class prostitute.

A writer, realising his last big adventure will very likely be death, takes a sabbatical and leaves his home in New York City’s Little Italy to travel with his family to Lucca, Italy in order to trace his ancestral roots and clean up the loose ends in his life.