Young Giovanna navigates her passage from childhood into adolescence as she experiences the different sides of Naples during the 1990s. A girl in search of her true reflection in a divided Naples: the Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and the Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity.
After Giovanna overhears her father’s comment comparing her to his estranged sister, the teen travels to a rough part of Naples to meet her aunt.
Giovanna accompanies Vittoria to Enzo’s grave and learns about their family’s falling out. A conversation about passion awakens something in Giovanna.
Giovanna’s friends clash with Vittoria on a visit to the slums. The bracelet Vittoria gifted Giovanna as a baby turns up in an unexpected place.
A secret gets out and unravels two families. Giovanna fails out of school and has her first sexual encounter. Vittoria demands her bracelet back.
Giovanna’s interest in a charming young religious scholar rankles her worldly father. It also irritates Vittoria, who is wary of the teen's intentions.
On a trip to Milan to visit Roberto, Giovanna wrestles with wanting to be seen as the scholar’s equal or something else.
