Rome, early 20th century: a wealthy psychiatrist, who run an asylum for women and lacks imagination ...
Rome, early 20th century: a wealthy psychiatrist, who run an asylum for women and lacks imagination in his practice, must find a wet nure for his infant when his wife panics after childbirth. He brings a peasant, Annette, to Rome, forcing her to leave her own baby behind. To the conternation and increasing anger of the wife, the nanny immediately bonds with the couple's infant son - Annette's a natural. Againt a backdrop of leftist demontration, Annette, who's lover is a teacher jailed for subverion, asks the doctor to teach her to read and write. Her nature and curiosity, the doctor's bland ideas, he and his wife's problems, and the two infants bring the story to a head.