Onelio Millenotti

In a farmhouse in southern Italy, an old woman dies. Her husband summons their sons: from Rome, Raffaele, a judge facing a political case for which he risks assassination; from Naples, the religious and ideological Rocco, a counselor at a correctional institute for boys; from Turin, Nicola, a factory worker involved in labor disputes. Once home, each encounters the past and engages in reveries of what may come.

Rome, 1880. Gregorio Ferramonti (Anthony Quinn) has decided to close his bakery, the family business. Then he tells his sons Pippo (Gigi Proietti), Mario (Fabio Testi) and Teta that they will have to fend for themselves. But Irene (Dominique Sanda), the wife of Pippo, a beautiful, calculating and ambitious young woman, wants to take over the inheritance. Acting on intelligence, weighing every step and its consequences, she manages to convince the brothers that they must prevent at all costs that his father falls in love again to avoid the risk of losing their inheritance.

In the decadent Roaring Twenties, a beautiful woman engages in affairs with two men, playing them against each other.

백작 부인 린다는 연로하고 오만한 남편과의 고달픈 생활에 못이겨 이혼을 바라고 있었으나 사랑하는 아이들 때문에 그 결심에 주저하고 있었다. 이러한 린다에 있어서는 남동생 쓰리오가 마음의 지주였다. 그는 메이드 로자와 사귀고 있었으나 누나 린다에 대한 애정은 형제애를 초월할 만큼 이상했다. 쓰리오는 린다를 아이들을 볼모로 이혼을 거절하는 폭군 백작한테서 지키기 위해 살해하기에 이른다. 물론 완전 범죄를 노렸었지만 그 계획은 무너지고 만다. 세상 사람들의 호기심 속에 재판은 시작되고.