A seemingly simple story of a lazy, uneducated young man's quest to find his purpose in life through a series of high paying yet dubious jobs.

Maria, daughter of Italian emigrants, lives with her son Santino who lives by expedients. In a small American town, inhabited mostly by children of Italian immigrants, the woman does everything to prevent her boyfriend from getting lost by taking the wrong path, so every time Santino tries to score a shot, Maria manages to blow his plans. Until one day the loving mother decides that the time has come to teach a fundamental lesson for the life of her son.

A mother, enduringly traumatized by the disappearance of her three-year old daughter 15 years ago, has cut herself off from her ex-husband and son. However, when a troubled young woman with a checkered past enters her life, old psychic wounds painfully resurface, as does the illogical and increasingly irrational hope that the young woman may be the daughter she lost so long ago.