Strained family ties add to the tension of a romantic triangle in this downbeat drama from Italy. Nina (Valeria Golino) is an emotionally unstable actress who can't figure out how to get her life in order and who frightens away almost any man who comes near her, including her former husband and her son. Clara (Margherita Buy) is a psychiatrist working in a mental hospital who has little going on in her life but her work. Nina and Clara have practically nothing in common except two things -- they're sisters, and both are in love with Leo (Ennio Fantastichini), an orderly at a hospital. Leo is fond of Nina, but when she leaves town without warning, he's upset at being unable to find her. Leo instead tracks down Clara, and she soon finds herself attracted to the warm, good-natured stranger.