On a turn-of-the-20th-century northern Italian farm, a group of sharecroppers eke out a threadbare existence. A priest advises Batisti and his wife Batistina that their young son Minec should be formally educated, so they sacrifice his help in the fields and send him to school. When Minec's wooden shoe breaks one day, Batisti--in an act of desperation--puts the family's future at risk to replace the clog.

In an ancient farmhouse in the Bergamo countryside, Batisti, widowed for two years, lives with his niece Teresi. During his afternoon naps, Batisti has frequent erotic dreams.