Gabriele returns home in southern Italy to bid farewell to his father Ernesto, a former stationmaster in a small town not far from Bari. The old man reawakens in Gabriele memories of his childhood, of his loving mother, his uncle, his friends... but also of his father's rage and bitterness over his failure in achieving his artistic ambitions: Ernesto was convinced he was destined to be a famous painter, and was willing to sacrifice everything for this belief, even his own dignity – and this made his son swear that he wouldn't turn out like him. Only now, many years later, through chance and circumstances, Gabriele begins to understand Ernesto and to see what sort of person his father really was.

At 30, Zeno's father dies, and he realizes that his youth is almost over. Meeting Giovanni Malfenti, a succesful gallery owner with four daughters, he's impressed by Malfenti's energy, and falls in love with one of his daughters. This relationship helps Zeno find peace and direction.

It’s Ferragosto, Italy’s mid-August holiday, in a practically deserted hospital in Naples. Two nurses, Angelo and Salvatore, are on shift when a desperately ill patient is wheeled in. With his seasoned eye, Angelo knows at once that Mr. Caputo won’t last the night. Salvatore happens to loathe Angelo and decides to bet on the opposite outcome. The winner of the bet will nab the top holiday slot: Christmas vacation. Angelo takes up the challenge. From that moment on, Salvatore will spend the night trying to keep Mr. Caputo alive, while Angelo will play dirty to make sure he wins the bet. That night, it’s anything goes at their hospital, from the nurses’ cheap shots to doctors on cocaine and suspicious characters lurking in the ward.

On December 12, 1969, a bomb kills 17 people at the Piazza Fontana national bank in Milan, Italy, marking the beginning of the Years of Lead. Local anarchists are scapegoated for the massacre by police and the media, but a lone prosecutor uncovers a conspiracy of far-right groups, corrupt secret services, and other interests that seek to undermine democracy.

In this fact-based drama, an ecology-minded fisherman is elected mayor of his corrupt seaside town and begins crusading against drugs and crime.

In a high school in the outskirts of Rome, it's the last day before the summer holidays. A literature teacher reminisces the past year and wonders what will become of the students he cared for as if they were his children.

Walter is an unpleasant man, dirty, a small-time middleman, a third class swindler. He lives in an old station wagon full of dirt and scraps of a lifetime. In that car, Walter eats, sleeps, receives young customers to whom he promises to break into the show business, as long as they are willing to do anything and in exchange for a bribe. His bodyguard is always by his side, he's too old and smells. He's own faithful life companion: A Rottweiler named Blackie and he's dying.