 Elena lives on a Tuscan farm, separated from her ineffectual husband Leonardo, who is more concerned with his mistress Lolli than his wife or two daughters, Franca and Malvina. This collection of female figures inhabiting a world virtually without men is completed by Elena s sister Claudia and Elena s housekeeper Fosca. The only male in the house is a senile old uncle who spends most of his time knitting. This unusual stable female environment is suddenly shaken by several crises.