Giorgio Mainardi (Diulio Del Prete), a wealthy, middle-aged financier, lies dying in a hospital bed surrounded by his family. He has collapsed suddenly, coughing up blood. His last word is to his stone-faced family is, "why?" The doctor's diagnosis of Giorgio's death is an internal hemorrhage, possibly from a stomach or intestinal ulcer. The following day, Giorgio's daughter Rosie (Karina Huff) arrives at the Mainardi estate having taken a leave of absence from her college studies to attend the funeral and for the reading of the will. Rosie soon finds her entire family squabbling over the estate. Giorgio's stepmother Hilda (Frances Nacmen), refuses permission for an autopsy, and taunts her elderly husband, Giorgio's father Paolo (Paolo Paoloni), who is near death himself from a recent stroke and is unable to move or speak. Meanwhile, Hilda's son Mario (Pascal Persiano) is revealed to be having an affair with Giorgio's third wife Lucy (Bettina Giovannini). Lucy is only a few years older than Rosie, and is apparently the only one of the Mainardi family who shows any compassion for her presence.