Vittorio, a man of about forty-five, a villager, sets out one morning from Via del Mandrione, on foot, to reach the Rio della Grana, the location of which he generally knows. He only knows that it is "over there", near the village of Gelsomino, "a thousand meters from the Pope's bedroom". He must meet an old friend of his, Aurelio, the son of Beddamadre, an old criminal who has been dead for years. Maybe Aurelio will give him a little job, maybe he will give him some money, maybe nothing. But, above all, Vittorio wants to see the Rio della Grana, he has heard about it from the old people of the village, it must be beautiful.