Born from a poor family, Romano graduated as an architect but he never had a chance to practice his profession following his marriage to a very wealthy woman called Elisa, who is busy running a bank she has just inherited.

There he meets Anna, a Russian woman vacationing on her own, who tells him about her poor background and her marriage to a rich man for security.

Having decided that he wants to spend his life with her, Romano, on pretence of exploring business opportunities, travells to Russia to Anna's remote town.

Once back to Italy, he discovers that his Elisa's bank had collapsed and bailiffs have put her palatial house up for sale.

After hearing Romano's story, Pavel mentions that his wife too has left a very unhappy marriage and how it took him a long time to persuade her to remarry.

It was adapted by a Soviet-Italian team that included Alexander Adabashyan, Suso Cecchi d'Amico and Nikita Mikhalkov, who also directed the film.