Young Dutch widow Emilie travels to a seaside resort in Italy, where she falls in love with Italian officer Aldo. Meanwhile, her deceased husband's assistant Hugo plans to propose to her as soon as the period of mourning is over.

Working together with his friend Leo as a waiter in a dining car, Simone discovers that Silvia, a girl with whom he had a casual relationship, is pregnant and wants to keep the baby.

Elections are approaching and things don't look too good for the opposition. Their leader can't stand the pressure and disappears. To avoid a scandal, the upper echelons of the party concoct a risky plan: to replace him with his identical twin, a philosopher with BPD, whose eclectic ideas and direct approach unexpectedly make the party surge in the polls.