The paths of two families cross when their 16-year-olds decide to marry. A trivial bike accident catapults protagonist-narrator Ezio into the heart of this microcosm, in which the parents are both wiser and more capricious than the children; the mothers neurotic and brave; the grandmother inevitably flighty; the daughters beautiful; and the dogs stubborn and in love. In other words, they are two contemporary families, who defy labels and are continuously evolving, in a precarious balance of liveliness, happiness and confusion.