Michele comes back from France to his village in Italy with his French wife, Agnès. While he doesn't want to meet anybody, she is friendly and open. Angelino, Michele's cousin, and his friend Ottaviano, two bullies from the village, mistake her kindness for enticement. Michele is always angry and violent: he blames his wife for their situation, and reminds her of her shady past. In the meantime, life in the small village goes on: Angelino's grandfather makes elaborate wooden structures; at the bar, people play cards and talk about women; Angelino's mother keeps on grumbling and sighing in her tiny food-shop. At last, during a holiday in the nearby village, Angelino and Ottaviano see Michele going to a prostitute. They decide to go and visit Agnès at home. So, while Ottaviano is waiting outside the door, threatened by the watch-dog, Angelino boastfully tries to woo her: but one more, he mistakes her kindness for enticement. When he tries to kiss and embrace her, she suddenly refuses and pushes him away. Fallen and failed, Angelino is even more humiliated when Ottaviano finds out what has happened. Back home, drunken and angry, Michele looks at the ravaged room and in a jealous rage,, flings himself against Agnès. After this second attack, the young woman suddenly changes her mood: she pushes her husband away and confesses to have ravaged herself the room, being angry for his delay. Now she wants to make love with him. Michele, who had never experienced his wife's sexual passion before, easily surrenders himself to Agnes. Next morning, she leaves.. On her way outside the tiny food-shop, she finds one of the blind man's wooden structures: and she takes it with her.