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.

Marguerite receives as a gift from a filmmaker friend: a very modern, automatic camera, complete with remote control. Her life will change dramatically, as the machine reveals to her not only her husband's betrayal with her best friend, but also the desolation of her own existence.