in a little village near Naples lives a farmer Esposito and his family. One day the government calls and they are told to sell the farm to make space for a new motorway linking northern and southern Italy. they have no intention of complying. the son Francisco is in love with Maria but it doesn't workout. Frustrated he moves to Milan and sleeps with several women. His doomed love to Maria and the death of his father push him into marriage with a woman he doesn't love. In his twilight years Francesco wonders what happened to his first love.