This is the story of 3 friends, destined to lose and find each other over and over again. More importantly, this is the (true) story of a film theatre in Florence, The Universale, which was a cultural landmark in the city between the '60s and the '80s. It was a theater of its own kind, bringing together intellectuals, students, as well as the people from San Frediano, a well-known working-class Quartiere. Such unusual mixture among the cinema-goers also produced a sort of creative chaos, which is explored through the eyes of Tommaso, the projectionist's son.

Paola, a double bass player at the last concert of her band's tour, discovers she's pregnant. But that's not the only problem she's forced to face. The relationship with her parents is problematic: his father is lost in alcohol and the future grandmother is becoming a mother for the second time. To complicate things further, the friends who play with her have just signed a contract for a series of concerts in Europe.

After the death of their industrialist father leaves them each with 49% of his company shares, two quarrelling brothers go to war for the remaining 2%.