In an ironic and nostalgic language, this novel tells the story of a man from southern Italy, Francesco, who in 1965 went to the United States to fetch the sister of his deceased wife back to Italy and go to a new wedding with her. 

The presence of the "American" has a strong impact on the locals, in a place where traditions and behaviors shaped by the recent experience of fascism are still preserved. What appears to be Maria's extravagance, and of her daughter Susy, who joins her in Italy, affects the behavior of some local girls, who try to raise their heads against the authority of their fathers and men in general. 

In the narration, memories of the last war intertwine, with families split by adherence or aversion to the fascist faith, in a difficult recomposition that twenty years later still conditions relationships. 

Three years are enough to blow up the old-fashioned long-established schemes, so much so that even before '68 the community tastes the wind of cultural and social transformations.