Accio and Manrico are siblings from a working-class family in 1960s Italy: older Manrico is handsome, charismatic, and loved by all, while younger Accio is sulky, hot-headed, and treats life as a battleground — much to his parents' chagrin. After the former is drawn into left-wing politics, Accio joins the fascists out of spite, but his flimsy beliefs are put to test when he falls for Manrico's like-minded girlfriend.
Fifteen years after the card game on Christmas Eve in which he lost 550 million lire, Franco Mattioli returns to Bologna because he learned that his friend Lele - a film critic by profession, present at the fateful game (he managed to win 500 thousand lire) - has an incurable disease. In all these years Franco has continually thought about the match and now he knows that the time for revenge has arrived. For this reason he decides to convince the people present in 1986 (in addition to Lele, Ugo Cavara, Stefano Bertoni and Antonio Santelia) to play again.
New year's eve at "The Islands" condos. An aging countess's party is crashed by the soccer team from her gigolo's town. While dressing for a dinner party, the wealthy Guilia discovers her husband's affair with her best friend and vows revenge. Next door, a family prepares their vintage Dodge for a drive through the streets. A call girl ties up a lawyer while, unbeknownst to him, three men await the right moment to break into his office. Across the hall, a woman downs pills in a lonely suicide attempt. Two young men hide out in a bedroom smoking dope; one of them has some dynamite. As midnight approaches, each group draws closer to grotesque tragedy.
