The narrative is essentially about the lives of two brothers from 1966 to 2003, there interactions with each other and other family members, and how their lives are effected by key events in relatively recent Italian history. The film is also about memory, or more precisely, the preservation of memory. The narrative for the brother Matteo involves personal and public libraries, the preservation of books, and the act of photography both as a means of documentation and as a form of artistic expression. The brother Nicola's work as a psychiatrist is to primarily heal people by addressing their memories of traumatic experiences. Nicola's daughter studies art restoration, while the mother, Giulia, works as an archivist. Characters meet and part during major events like the 1966 flood of Florence and the student strikes of 1968, and cross paths with storylines involving the Red Brigades and the Mafia activity in Sicily. None of the historical action is as important as simply wanting to know what will happen next to the family members.

Giordana uses an eclectic range of music throughout the film as well both as signifiers of certain time periods and as emotional shorthand ranging from The Four Tops, J.S. Bach, Astor Piazzola and Benjamin Britten. Giordana also refers to Truffaut's Jules and Jim by using a one of Georges Delerue's themes. There is also a brief mention of Roberto Rossellini film of tragic love, Stromboli. The title comes from a poem by Pasolini, the subject of an earlier film by Giordana.

The filmography of the woman who plays the family matriarch, Adriana Asti, includes work with key Italian directors over the past fifty years, including Visconti, Pasolini, Bertolucci, and De Sica.