Alina is a brilliant and enterprising woman who runs a successful art gallery in Palermo. Her husband Daniele, a successful orchestra conductor, cultured and intelligent, is not a regular presence. One day, while accompanying Daniele to the airport, Alina feels a sense of emptiness. She will try to fill it with a butcher who is always joking and full of erotic allusions and who arouses a strong attraction in her.

Maria, a 7-year-old girl who lives on the island of Ustica, has forgotten her mothers birthday, and only remembers it when she sees her brothers presenting her with two bunches of wild flowers. To make amends, she immediately sets off to buy some irises she had spotted in the market down at the port that morning. Luckily the flower seller still has some left, but Maria only has enough money for one Iris.