A chronicle of the life of infamous classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven and his painful struggle with hearing loss. Following Beethoven's death in 1827, his assistant, Schindler, searches for an elusive woman referred to in the composer's love letters as "immortal beloved." As Schindler solves the mystery, a series of flashbacks reveal Beethoven's transformation from passionate young man to troubled musical genius.

A vineyard's manager marries the owner's very young daughter; father dies. Deceit, infidelity. The husband is forced to watch from a distance as his wife blossom socially in his absence; then the plot thickens.

During the Middle Ages, a traveling executioner hires an apprentice to learn the finer points of torture and execution, and a young girl is given by her parents to a Catholic convent.

South of France: Riki Kandinski and his elder brother Fredrico, come back to their family castle for their father's funeral. Fredrico knows nothing about his younger brother, but he notices that he is making big money and living in luxury all for a few days work a week. By pure chance, Fredrico gets his hands on a gay porn magazine and sees his brother in it.

Roseanna is dying of a heart condition, and all she wants is to be buried next to her daughter, in a cemetery that is getting full fast. The cemetery can't expand because Capestro, the man who owns the land next to the cemetery, won't sell. While Marcello is doing good deeds to make sure no one dies, Roseanna thinks of Marcello's future.

After losing a finger in a work accident, an Italian worker becomes increasingly involved in political and revolutionary groups.

The film is set in 90 AD and concerns Jesus Christ's last surviving disciple, John of Patmos, and his writings and visions from the Apocalypse of John. Emperor Domitian has declared himself to be God and ruler, over heaven and earth. The Christians do not recognize his divinity and face persecution, from the God Emperor. John has been imprisoned on, the island of Patmos, a Roman mining, penal colony, with many others. He writes out messages of his visions and sends the "Revelation of God", to the seven churches of Greek Asia Minor. The Christian church, in Ephesus, sends Irene to make sure John is alive and to confer with him in person. The movie depicts scenes from the Book of Revelation and links them to events happening to the church in Asia.

The Turin area is devastated by floods: the Pô River has overflown and toxic waste from a local dump is now being carried by the stream. Which is why Augusto Vigano, the co-owner of a pub and a dedicated environmentalist, blocks, in the company of a group of friends, the train on which minister Antonelli is traveling. The politician, agrees to listen to the protesters'complaints and , filmed by television cameras, follows Vigano all the way to the dump. It is on this occasion that Vigano is noticed by a politician who sees at once the interest he can derive in having him elected. Augusto, who thinks that being elected to parliament is the best way to protect the environment more effectively, accepts his offer, without realizing that the cynical politician intends to manipulate him.