Late '50s to early '60s, when the space war between the Soviet and US was fiercely going on, a fifteen-year-old member of the communist party, Luciana, develops her ideals while living with her bourgeois stepfather, and among male chauvinists in a communist group in Rome. Her only friend is her brother Arturo, who dreams of going to space but is unable to do so due to his epilepsy.
Racial integration is Elena's profession and passion, not only filling her working day as a cultural mediator assisting immigrants, but spilling over into her home life as well. All too often her husband Carlo must attend charity events where he feels distinctly out of place. During one of these evenings, Carlo meets Nadine, a beautiful black woman.
Garage owner Angelo and big-time film producer Alberto find themselves occupying neighbouring beds in a Rome hospital after suffering heart attacks. Alberto is a gregarious joker - and chain smoker - who has a strong effect on the impressionable Angelo. However, as one of the men's condition deteriorates, the other becomes more deeply involved in his personal life.
A climax of brutality and violence after a young man hits some cars in a rush.
In Milan, Matteo is an underemployed physicist, giving the occasional lecture at a university while working at a PR firm where he knows he'll be fired. Without his really trying, two women are attracted to him, a blond and a brunette. The blond is Angelica; they meet smoking on the office rooftop. To his surprise, she has clout in the company and soon has him flying off (with her) to make presentations. The brunette is Beatrice, a new flatmate, hoping for a teaching job in the national service. Angelica dangles a posting with her in Barcelona; Beatrice is simply Beatrice. Will Matteo figure out what he wants - and decide before opportunity passes him by?
Political strategists in a northern Italian city push gay-rights campaigner Piero into the mayoral race, pairing him with uptight conservative toughie Adele (Claudia Gerini). Piero and his partner, Remo, are the stable ones, while buttoned-up divorcee Adele nurses her bitterness.
Like every year, everyone is going back to the ancestral family's home for the Christmas holidays. But this time, the old folks have a surprise, a good surprise for them. They have decided to go living with one of their children and make him or her inherit the family house.
