Augusto Vittorio Gassman returns to his Rome home after eighteen years in a psychiatric clinic, now under the care of his daughter-in-law Carla Dominique Sanda. Divorced long ago, she lives there with her lover Giorgio Maurizio Fardo, his twelve-year-old daughter, and Rosa Valentina Holtkamp, Carla’s nine-year-old daughter and Augusto’s granddaughter. Augustan is a bright man who has known loneliness and bullying, and he quickly forms a quiet, healing bond with Rosa, the granddaughter he has never truly met.
Before his commitment, Augusto was the manager of a large bank. When he drops by to pay a few household bills, he is recognized and greeted with warmth by his former colleagues. His old secretary offers to drive him home, but instead invites him to her flat, cooks lunch, and then makes advances toward him, prompting Augusto to flee. Back at his house, Carla and Giorgio host a drinks party for business associates. Augusto wanders in, looking for a magazine, and bluntly insults a client of Giorgio’s, who leaves in disgust. A psychiatrist who hosts a TV show is among the guests, and she invites Augusto to appear on it, creating a new, uncertain spotlight in his life.
In the bar, just before the show goes on the air, Augusto encounters Alcide Elliott Gould, an old roommate from the clinic who now lives with a prostitute on a farmhouse outside the city. The two men disrupt the broadcast in a crude, impulsive moment that leads to the show being pulled, much to Carla and Giorgio’s distress as they watch at home.
Carnival time arrives, and Rosa’s school hosts a party in fancy dress. Augusto accompanies her to bring her home, and the pair wander the city streets, where they meet a homeless man and invite him into a bar for conversation and warmth. After a glass of red wine, Rosa falls asleep, and when Augusto carries her home, Carla erupts in a threat of re-committal.
To avoid this fate, Augusto flees to Alcide’s farmhouse, leaving his address with Rosa. A few days later, Rosa herself follows, having been threatened with boarding school and longing for the grandfather she adores. A police search for the missing man and child ensues, and they are eventually traced and returned home. Rosa is sent away to boarding school, while Augusto finds a small room of his own. Months later, when he visits Rosa, her affection for him has matured, but she has become drawn to a handsome young cousin she has met. Augusto realizes that she must grow into her own life and that he must learn to live with his own solitude.
