Michele Casali is a middle-class professor in Fascist Italy who teaches at the same high school attended by his only daughter, Giovanna. A shy and sensitive girl, her insecurities are only magnified by Michele's overprotectiveness—reaching a point of no return.

A man spends his days at home, immersed in his habits, staring at flies and napping. His dreams of revolution are long lost. Time melts his body, but not his memories. The only way to spend his days seems to be writing little poems and thinking about his past.

Weak and battered, a man wakes up near a railway. the pale sun looks like it doesn’t feel like rising. The man walks through deserted places and stumbles into a plastic bag containing items from his past. He gets into a courtyard of a house and phones a woman. The sun washes over him with all its strength.

A man sitting in a bar munches pistachio nuts to kill time. Another man browses through a magazine, looking for interesting topics and keeping up to date with the world. The barman follows his routine, not caring about his customers.

The story follows a Roman architect named Lucius, who is having trouble coming up with ideas. One day, he discovers a hidden tunnel underneath a spa that leads him to a modern Japanese bath house. Inspired by the innovations found there, he creates his own spa, Roma Thermae, bringing in the modern ideas to his time.