This Italian drama, based on a novella by Cesare Pavese, follows Clelia (Eleonora Rossi Drago), a young woman from Rome who relocates to Turin to open a fashion boutique. Clelia soon meets and befriends a group of wealthy and cultured women, including the artistic Nene (Valentina Cortese) and the lively Mariella (Anna Maria Pancani). Tensions develop within the group, however, when Nene's fiancé, Lorenzo (Gabriele Ferzetti), becomes interested in one of the other women.