Laura Andrei and Piero La Torre, both gynecologists in a hospital in Rome, have been married for years and have two children, Francesca and Dado. The couple begins to go through a period of crisis following the appointment of Laura to primary aid at the expense of Piero, who, frustrated and neglected by his wife, weaves an affair with Rita Lanceri Kraus, a pharmaceutical rep who has already had a relationship with Piero's dearest friend, the anesthesiologist Stefano Morandi.