Giorgio, Walter and Dario's dream is to own a boat. Meanwhile, they overcome boredom by inventing an endless series of jokes. Between the three and the rich boys in the area led by Fernando there is a strong rivalry that will become more acute with the arrival of the beautiful Karin, a young German with an ambiguous past.

In 1867, with Garibaldi's forces close to bringing Rome into the Italian kingdom, Monsignor Colombo da Priverno, a world-weary judge on the papal court, wants to resign, disgusted by the violence to which the papacy resorts to hold secular power.