 After separating from his American wife, Julius Ferri and his daughter Emmy have returned to Urbino, where he works as a veterinary surgeon in a renowned animal clinic. One day Claudia, Julius  childhood sweetheart, arrives as a replacement for a member of the clinic staff who has taken pregnancy leave. Eleven years previously, Julius and Claudia had been planning to get married # but Julius went to America, fell in love with an American woman, and cut off all further contact with Claudia. Claudia has never forgiven him for this act, and now, when the two of them see each other again after such a long time, she is very cool and distanced towards him. The problems provided by the "patients" at the clinic keep bringing the two of them together professionally, however, and soon the ice starts to melt. Julius very soon realizes that he s fallen in love with Claudia again, but she is still distanced towards him. Nevertheless, she s still prepared to support Julius in his fight for custody of his son Tommy # it was awarded to the mother. When Julius  ex-wife starts trying to get Emmy to join her in the States as well, Claudia even agrees to pretend to be part of Julius  family so that he can keep his children. However, when Claudia senses her old feelings for Julius rising to the surface again she does everything she can to avoid a further disappointment: she decides to accept a research post in New Guinea. Julius doesn t want to lose Claudia a second time, however, and promptly decides to travel after her. Meanwhile, Claudia has finally realized that she can t live without Julius...