Luciano Bianchi lives with his wife and son in the small town of Guastalla. As an intellectual and bibliophile, he works as head of cultural initiatives at a mining plant.
The love affair between Andrea, laborer from the italian northern area called Bassa Lombarda and apulian single mother, Rosaria, is grafted on the background of the inconveniences of poor commuters who must go to work in Milan by train.
Ambrogio Carugati, a perpetually failing graduate student, turns to a former university classmate, the gynecologist Roberto Setti, to escape the arranged marriage with Gabriella, a girl he doesn't like.
