Giovanna, though still very young, has been married to her devoted husband Filippo for 9 years. She divides her time between her job at the poultry factory, looking after her 2 children, and baking cakes for the local cafe, bearing the weight of responsibility on her shoulders.

The strain on Giovanna is increased when Filippo, in his kindness, brings home a refined elderly gentleman who has lost his memory. In trying to help this man Giovanna reluctantly spends more and more time with him, slowly uncovering clues to the mystery of his buried past: a number tatooed onto his forearm, his expertise in the art of the patisserie and the name, Simon... Increasingly irritated by her husband's softness, her fantasies of the ideal are projected onto the handsome mysterious neighbor whom she watches in the hope of adding a little excitement to her life.