A sanitary battalion of Italian Army is sent to Sorman oasis in Lybia during the Africa campaign in 1940. Soon an Italian missionary, living nearby, succeed to transform the occupation by Italian Army in a kind of humanitarian mission. In fact all the battalion is involved to help the local population. The war anyway goes on with no regards to human feelings. The "glorious" Fascist campaign is going to became a fast retreat.

In 1944 Tuscany, a group of boxers struggling through World War II stages rigged matches to earn money and travel, accompanied by a missing black American soldier and a girl resisting marriage, as they navigate the challenges of their war-torn world.

Four waiters and a cook working at a seaside restaurant hate one another but still keep working together for lack of better opportunities.

Palermo, Sicily, 1984. Examining magistrate Giovanni Falcone allies with Tomasso Buscetta, a former mobster, to defeat the clan of Corleone, the ruthless Mafia faction that rules Cosa Nostra with an iron hand, cruelly eliminating all those who dare to oppose its immense power: other criminals, policemen, judges, even innocent civilians. One of them wants revenge, the other wants justice. But only one can survive such an unequal fight.

The Razzi family owns a small factory of sweets in Macerata. Their desire to enlarge their business to cope with the new Unified European Market brings to a string of fatal mistakes that will ultimately doom their wealth.

Carpenter Arturo becomes a literary sensation when the children's stories he writes in his spare time get published, but he comes to resent success and the spotlight that comes with it. During a press tour he falls in love with beautiful married woman, Matilde.

Sara and Samuele are two simple guys who take care of a community of elderly people. One day Samuele discovers that one of these has bequeathed him four billion lire. All this money changes the life of Samuele who begins to neglect friends and girlfriend to attend more high-ranking environments, begins to make investments with alleged friends and in the end he loses everything. Suddenly he comes up with an idea to get the money back together with his real friends, but it won't be an easy task.