1970s Rome was a time of great social and cultural change, full of grit and glamour. The young Borghetti family has just moved into one of the many freshly-built apartment blocks in the city. The move is bittersweet. Despite the beautiful, sweeping views of Rome from their top floor apartment, the family is not as close as they once were. Clara and Felice are no longer in love, but are unable to leave each other. Clara finds refuge from her loneliness in the shelter of her special relationships with her three children. The oldest eleven-year old Adriana, an unknown child in this new neighbourhood, deliberately presents as a boy to the neighbourhood children, pushing the family’s bond towards a breaking point. Penélope Cruz dominates the screen in the main role of a lonely wife.