 Rome, early 20th century: a wealthy psychiatrist, who runs an asylum for women and lacks imagination in his practice, must find a wet nurse 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 consternation and increasing anger of the wife, the nanny immediately bonds with the couple s infant son - Annette s a natural. Against a backdrop of leftist demonstrations, Annette, who s lover is a teacher jailed for subversion, 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.