Stefano, a philosophy grad student without a future, tries to commit suicide after his girlfriend leaves him. He is saved by Giulio, a wisecracking plumber who takes him home and teaches him the tricks of the trade. When Lucia, a woman disappointed in both men and conventional jobs who has started to work as a prostitute, calls them to repair a sink, for Stefano it's love at first sight.

During the general elections of 1994, Tunin, a mechanic with a firm belief in communism fears that his party is about to lose, so he journeys to a northern village to stir up trouble. He isn't there long before he is arguing with a beautiful hairdresser. Their debate is fiery as is his growing and impossible-to-disguise passion for her. She too is intrigued with him, but their disparate ideologies threaten to keep them apart.

In a Roman high school, a jaded art professor who lost the spark for the job clashes with an ex pupil of his, an adjunct literature teacher who is trying to rescue an eccentric and rebellious student, while the stern headmistress deals with a student from a difficult background.