Composer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice for health reasons. There, he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of an adolescent Polish boy named Tadzio who is staying with his family at the same Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido as Aschenbach.
Political activist Salvatore returns to his native Sicily and stirs up trouble among the peasants, urging them to confront the Mafia and demand the right to plough their own fields. The peasants refuse to help him, and Salvatore is marked by the Mafia as a troublemaker.
The revolt of the people of a Sicilian village further to the Expedition of the Thousand which, in 1860, enables Garibaldi to liberate Sicily.
The historic clock of a small town needs to be repaired but there is no money in the town coffers to pay for it. Don Paolo (Peppino Spadaro), the Priest, raises the money by lottery and thinks the surplus should go to the poor. The Communists and Socialists object because they are afraid the priest will get the credit and they claim it as "the people's money." The democratic mayor (Arturo Brogaglia) can think of no solution other than organizing committees and sub-committees. Finally, Rocchetti (Paola Stoppi), the town mechanic who has no answers for town problems and hates the clergy and politicians alike, comes forward and repairs the clock for the sheer joy of work.
