Maurizio works in a dubbing studio and puts sound effects into cartoons. One day his hands turn into cartoon ones, with a life of their own.
Director Maurizio Nichetti is invited on TV to introduce a screening of his neo-realist classic 'The Icicle Thief'. He is horrified to discover that his black-and-white tale of life in poverty is constantly interrupted by garish color commercials, and even more horrified when a power cut in the studio causes film and commercials to mix up – a glamorous model finds herself in the arms of an unemployed pauper, while his wife finds herself in consumers' heaven. Nichetti has to break into the film to try to sort everything out.
Stefano is now forty years old but has not yet found his purpose in life, remaining an eternal dreamer waiting for that decisive enlightenment. With his parents who have great plans for him, Stefano realizes that he lost most of his years without a real goal and thinks back to all those missed opportunities that could have led him to another path, between old loves and unexploited opportunities .
