On a Monday morning in July 1961, Vittoria, a young literary translator, ends her relationship with Riccardo in his apartment in the EUR district of Rome, following a long night of conversation. Riccardo pleads for her to stay, but she tells him she no longer loves him and leaves. As she wanders the deserted streets, he catches up and walks with her through a wooded area to her apartment building, where they share their final goodbye in quiet, weary words.
[Vittoria] visits her mother at the frantic Rome Stock Exchange. A young stockbroker, Piero, overhears an inside tip, rushes to purchase the stocks, and then sells them at a large profit. He introduces himself to Vittoria; he is her mother's stockbroker. Outside the building, Vittoria attempts to tell her mother about her recent breakup, but her mother is preoccupied with her earned profits and the thrill of the numbers flashing on the screens.
That evening, Vittoria's mother hosts a small world that keeps turning: Anita, a neighbor, stops by to talk about the breakup, while Marta, another neighbor, calls and invites them to her nearby apartment. Marta—a white colonialist from Kenya in this story—refers to natives as “monkeys” and believes white minorities feel threatened. In a tense moment, Vittoria dons blackface and mimics an African tribal dance until Marta, unamused, asks her to stop. When Marta's dog Zeus escapes from the apartment, the women give chase. Later, Riccardo calls for Vittoria outside her apartment, but she hides and does not answer.
The next day, Vittoria accompanies Anita and her husband on a trip to Verona. Meanwhile, back at the Rome Stock Exchange, [Piero] is busy making trades. Vittoria arrives at the Stock Exchange and learns that her mother has lost approximately 10 million lire due to a stock market crash. She encounters [Piero], who drives her to her mother's apartment in his Alfa Romeo Giulietta sportscar. She shows him framed family pictures and her room growing up. [Piero] tries to kiss her, but she refuses. He returns to his office, where he must break the bad news to his investors.
After work, [Piero] meets with a call girl he previously arranged to meet, but sends her away upon finding that she has dyed her blonde hair a darker color. He then drives to Vittoria's building and stands outside her apartment. Vittoria comes out to her balcony, and while they are talking, a drunk man steals his sportscar. The next morning, they meet by a lake and watch as a crane lifts the car with the drunk man's dead body out of the water. After a long walk, they arrive at a building under construction near Vittoria's apartment building. [Piero] again tries to kiss her, but she pulls away and heads home. That evening, Vittoria calls [Piero] but says nothing; thinking it is a prank call, he yells into the phone and slams down the receiver.
The next day, while Vittoria waits by the construction site, [Piero] arrives and tells her he has bought a new BMW to replace his Alfa Romeo. He takes her to his parents' apartment, which is filled with paintings and sculptures. As they talk, she seems nervous and unwilling to open up to him. They eventually kiss, and after he accidentally tears her dress, she goes into a bedroom and looks at his old family pictures. [Piero] comes to the bedroom, and they have sex.
[Vittoria] and [Piero] lie on a hill. When he brings up marriage, she asserts that she does not miss it, even though she has never been married. He grows frustrated with her inability to express how she feels about him, to which she responds, "I wish I didn't love you or that I loved you much more." Some time later at his office, Vittoria and Piero are making out on a couch. When an alarm goes off, they prepare to part. They embrace and discuss seeing each other every day. They agree to meet that evening at 8 pm at the “usual place” outside the construction site, and Vittoria leaves. That evening, on Sunday, 10 September 1961, neither shows up.
