Rome, 1929. The Pope's tailor sends his only son, 35-year-old virgin Nello, to more liberal Bologna hoping he'll find a wife. His head brimming with ideas on romantic love induced by classical poetry, Nello falls for Angela, a beautiful blind woman who indulges him only to win back her fiancé.

Rosa Funzeca, after twenty years as a prostitute, decides to make a change in her life and to look for an honest job that'll allow her to be reunited with her son Fernando. But things are not easy.