Alarmed by the news that for each working Italian there's a retiree, 70-year-old Walter decides to do his part by helping "a young person who's working for him." He chooses Piero, a model worker and upstanding citizen so shy that he can't bring himself to declare his feelings for night-time street cleaner Francesca. Walter starts giving him some old-hand advice on the matter.

A story of friendship in a squalid suburb of a city of southern Italy. Alexander and Ferdi come from poor families and live in a city in decline, where there is no future.