"The Family," an album with a velvet cover, is meant to touch the extended family of man. Formal portraits, bookends in this 80-year saga, enclose the central story, which opens with the baptism of Carlo, a baby in his grandfather's lap, and ends with Carlo as a grandfather with a baby in his arms. And never once do we get out of the house, whose rooms provide the film's structure. Comfort or passion? Carlo couldn't really decide until it was too late.

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.

Four stories intertwine during summer at Saint-Tropez: a couple tries to recapture their spark; a girl falls for a male stripper she met at a night club; a famous pianist tries to prevent his ex-wife from re-marrying; an unsuspecting suicidal man gives a gorgeous female Mafia hitman a run for her money.

A gay man and a lesbian, both having reasons to try going straight, end up as a couple!

Lucia (Natassja Kinski) is a volatile, exciteable young woman. She forms a romance with Carlo (Stefano Dionisi), who is somewhat callow and is very skittish. Their romance is not an easy one, but they are assisted in coping with its ups and downs by their mutual friendship with Franco (Franco Citti), an older, wiser and more stable man.

Daniela, a true Roman girl with a big face, weighs over a hundred kilos and always has the joke ready. She cohabits in a tiny apartment with her friend Luisa and works as an assistant to Maria Pace, owner of an art gallery.