When his destituite widowed sister-in-law—whom he had never stopped harbouring feelings for—and her ne'er-do-well son come to live with him after World War II, a mentally-ill farmer who spends all his time destroying unexploded ordnance scattered across the countryside finds a new purpose in his lonely life.
At work, Mario Millio is the only male nurse not on strike. At home, his wife is more interested in calling the hot-line of a local TV-doctor. When Mario wins 15 million Lire in the lottery, he buys himself a new car and starts to live out his dreams in secret. All goes well until a criminal steals the car and Mario is blamed for the car thief's crimes