A runaway coffin, a conservative wedding, an eccentric older man, two transsexuals, the police and an adorable puppy, collide on a humorous and heartwarming journey through the picturesque South of Italy. The "unexpected" death of 103 year-old Rosa creates an awkward family reunion the evening before what was to be a lush and opulent wedding. Rosa's grand-daughter, Chiara Gammarota, is set to marry the son of a wealthy general, much to the excitement of her conservative father, Nicolo. Francesco, Nicolo's "eccentric" brother caused a town scandal when he revealed his homosexuality 40 years earlier. He has returned for the wedding-turned-funeral and the two polar opposites see each other for the first time in decades. Acting on the final wishes of their mother the conflicting brothers reluctantly embark on drive through the countryside to bury their mother in their hometown; forcing them to confront family secrets...

Fontamara is a village in the Marsica, forgotten by all but God and its inhabitants are called 'cafoni' (boors). Berardo Viola wants to marry Elvira but only after gaining enough money to buy some land and in order to reach his aim he has the idea of going to a great city. When Maria Grazia is raped by the fascists, Berardo and Antonio decide to leave Fontamara and go to Rome. Here they are swindled by a lawyer and afterwards they are invited by an antifascist to a restaurant where they are arrested by the police because of some subversive papers they had.

A young boy and a young girl finds each other.

Assunta Spina is a very attractive and passionate young, the only one that can read and write among all workers in the laundry room of Doña Rosa. She is married to a sailor who will be to the sea and will leave it. Then fall into the arms of Michele, a butcher who has always felt an uncontrollable, primitive passion towards her. But the passion and jealousy between the two love will be unbearable.

Enza is a beautiful and lively Sicilian teenager who is starting out in life, but due to her naivety, she always ends up getting into trouble. She has no parents, but lives with her aunt and uncle together with her older sister who acts as her mother and tries to put her on the right path, even ending up in prison for some time. Enza, keeping faith with her rebellious nature, falls in love with Sebastiano, with whom she has her first sexual relations, but for him she also goes as far as stealing. All men are the same.

Sasà Jovine (Nino Manfredi) is a self-styled lawyer involved in petty businesses with Neapolitan mobsters (camorristi). When one of his clients, don Michele Miletti (Paolo Stoppa) offers him a huge bribe (mazzetta) to search for his daughter who disappeared mysteriously taking with her some hot documents, Sasà finds himself trapped into a spiral of homicides.

The story of Maria Montessori the most famous pedagogue of the world. She spent all her life to make her "metodo" (method) accepted in the archaic Italian school system, while the rest of the world immediately understand the importance of her theories. She was the first Italian Doctor, a famous feminist, a scientist. Her private life was hit by having an illegitimate son and by the Fascism that didn't want to accept completely her theories.

A shoot out after a robbery ends with the death of the Chief of Police. Police detective Ghini goes in search of a suspect, Lanza, to avenge the death of his boss. Ghini's search leads him to Belli, a Sicilian gangster and 'Trashy', the dirty leader of a gang of killers. The action is violent as both police and criminals track down Belli who still finds some time to attempt a couple of robberies...

Giovannino grows up and seeks his way, exemplary in his total and definitive absence of character. He lets himself be guided a little by everyone, without ever making a decision of his own free will. He first seduces the family servant, then runs away to Rome and tries to marry her unserious daughter to a boarding house owner. But her father arrives from Catania who distrusts her and arranges for him to marry a rich and lame girl.