In the first half of the 1930s, in a rural town in central Italy, the Vigettis are a farming family, with three children: the young Edo, Sultana and Carlino, a young man much sought after by the girls. Wealthy landowners the Ostis live in a manor and have three daughters of marrying age, especially the older ones, Maria and Amabile. Making the best of a bad situation, Sisto and Rosalia Osti allow Carlino to court their older daughters in the hopes of marrying off at least one of them. Carlino';s visits with the girls in the Osti drawing room are turned upside down by the sudden return of the youngest sister, the beautiful Francesca, from the city to which she was sent to study. It';s love at first sight for the two young people, sending all other plans up in smoke.