Rome, 1880. Gregorio Ferramonti (Anthony Quinn) has decided to close the family bakery. Then he tells his sons Pippo (Gigi Proietti) and Mario (Fabio Testi), and daughter Teta (Adriana Asti) that they will have to fend for themselves. But Irene (Dominique Sanda), Pippo's beautiful, calculating new wife, is determined to inherit the family fortune, and uses the guise of reconciling old family feuds to do so.