While her best friend Vale can afford to be a full-time performer, aspiring dancer Eli has an unemployed husband and four children to take care of, and works all day long in a cafe on the opposite side of the city, meaning she has to wake up before dawn and comes home late at night. Her kind and effervescent nature still manages to overcome this hardships.
On the 20th anniversary of Federico Fellini's death, Ettore Scola, a devoted admirer of the incomparable maestro, commemorates the lesser-known aspects of his personality, employing interviews, photographs, behind-the-scenes footage as well as his drawings and film clips.