An elderly woman named Lola lives in a small village overlooking the sea in Calabria. Now nearing death, two of her grandchildren, Mauro and Sabrina, children of her first-born who died a few years earlier, return from Madrid to visit her. Both Mauro and Sabrina, half Italian and half Spanish, find themselves in a crucial moment of their lives: both in fact live difficult relationships with their respective partners. Sabrina has just suffered a miscarriage, while Mauro is unable to detach himself from a woman who is constantly cheating on him. Taking care of Lola are the other niece, Teresa, and a nurse named Paola. The old woman is sick and vomits constantly, inside she is aware that all the frustrations of a life, "the unspoken things"; do not die, but remain inside and kill you slowly. She realizes that, before dying, she must teach her grandchildren to get rid of their existential boulders and decides to do so by revealing a secret that concerns her, which happened when she was still a girl.
In the 1940s, Lola greets her boyfriend and great love Luigi who is preparing to go to war. The girl makes a vow to the saint of the town, San Rocco, protector of fishermen, so that the young man returns safe and sound, allowing her to live forever with the love of his life. The years pass, the war ends but Luigi does not come back. Forced by her family, Lola marries another man, Nino, with whom she will have children and who will love her deeply for all her life.
One day Lola, pregnant with her first child, walks through the streets of the town and suddenly Luigi finds herself in front of her. The young man, seriously ill, after many hardships has finally managed to return home to marry his Lola and reacts very badly when he realizes that the woman, in the meantime, has created another life for herself. Lola, hurt by his words, is desperate: she still loves Luigi but now she can't go back.
A few months later, Luigi is dying. He asks his sister to be able to talk to Lola one last time. Lola goes to the young man's bedside. Luigi regrets being cruel to her and asks her to forget him and be happy with Nino and his family. Lola promises she will be happy and will try hard. Over the years, however, her sense of guilt, frustrations and the inability to be herself inevitably spill over into her relationship with Nino and her children. Lola will never talk to Nino about what's inside and will live her unspoken feelings and frustrations in silence. He will go on with his life harboring anger and resentment for the unfair situation, pouring everything out on his family. She will never forgive her parents for forcing her to marry Nino. The betrayal of her promises makes her an unhappy woman.
Years pass and Lola, knowing that death is near, decides to free herself from this secret, aware that her revelations will help her grandchildren to unlock their lives. His cathartic act will be a benefit not only for the grandchildren Sabrina, Mauro and Teresa but also for the old childhood friends they find in Calabria. In fact, Lola's revelations will also help Paola, the nurse with a bulky ex-husband, and Pino, the son of the owner of the local castle, who has always been secretly in love with Mauro and has a difficult relationship with his father.
The old friends, now 40, decide to fulfill Lola's last wish: to attend the feast of San Rocco and the procession that sees all the fishermen carrying the Saint into the sea. Lola wants to thank San Rocco as she realized that, after all, her wishes were fulfilled.