In this painful melodrama, an aging mother (Claudia Cardinale) attempts to cope with the progressive deterioration of her grown son due to his drug addiction. At first only manipulative, in addition to stealing from her he eventually becomes abusive and violent, and she must take strong measures if she is to save her own life, much less his.
A young French woman returns to the vast silence of West Africa to contemplate her childhood days in a colonial outpost in Cameroon. Her strongest memories are of the family's houseboy, Protée — a man of great nobility, intelligence and beauty — and the intricate nature of relationships in a racist society.
Marco, a nine year old boy, is in love with his elementary teacher, and feels neglected by his workaholic parents. When they forget about his birthday he wishes he could grow up at once. This really happens and Marco begins a new life as an adult. He rents a room in his teacher's flat and she falls in love with him. He even fakes a kidnapping when he runs out of money but he is mistaken for the kidnapper.
Otello Morsiani, a north-eastern-italian lawyer, takes the job of estimating land holdings on the Po Delta, which are intended to be expropriated to make way for a national park. The lawyer soon discovers that in that area, once target of methane extraction, the soil is now at risk to sink, due to hydrogeological disturbance: in the meanwhile, he also digs out a mystery tied to a death dating back twenty years before.
