Life takes a chaotic turn for solitary Prof. Ludovico Bruschi (Marcello Mastroianni) when he becomes guardian of his 4-year-old granddaughter, Papere (Lara Pranzoni), in this bittersweet drama. After she's dumped on his doorstep, the widowed Bruschi takes Papere in and schools her in the art of genteel, orderly living, but their mannerly world is disrupted when the girl's wayward mother (Sandrine Bonnaire) returns.