Davide Bias’ father, Ettore, was a scriptwriter of bush league movies based on bad jokes. Davide is a copywriter whose dream is to write something good and true. He suffers from anxiety and lack of satisfaction and only pills are able to control these feelings. Father and son never understood each other, and probably never really talked. When Ettore dies in a suspicious car accident - seemingly a suicide -, Davide’s life takes an unexpected turn. He leaves Milan, his job, his girlfriend Silvia, and moves in with his mother in Rome. In his mothers’ house his father’s presence, frustrations, secret dreams can still be felt. Ettore’s greatest dream: Ludovica, a beautiful, light-filled woman, a publisher who was interested in publishing the autobiographical book Ettore wanted to write.
Davide, intrigued by the idea of finally getting to know his father and, above all, being able to continue seeing Ludovica, looks for this mysterious book in his father’s computer, but he finds nothing. At this point, he decides to write the book himself. He writes as if he were his father, turning into Ettore, diving into his professional frustration, into his impossible love for a married woman, completely out of his reach. Many nights go by without his pills; he is restless, except for the time he spends with Silvia. And then a little kiss, a kiss by a married woman, surrounded by Rome’s bustle.
Davide now understands his father. He perceives Ettore’s talent crunched by the small cinema industry until it got lost forever. He writes this whole story, the good and true masterpiece he had in his heart. But the book cover carries his father’s name, who can finally have the success he deserved. In the end, the book wins the most prestigious Italian literary award: the Strega Prize.
Davide is not going to attend with his mother for the thank you speech. He consumed himself in the effort of reinventing his father, in that impossible desire of the same woman. He spends a year in a centre, measuring distances with his steps, determined not to recover. But he receives a visit. A beautiful woman, who kisses him again… like a married woman - or maybe something more.