Southern Italy in the 1960s. Romano and Rosa, together with their young sons Gigi and Giancarlo, decide to leave their sun-drenched home and move to Duisburg, Germany. In the grey industrial rustbelt along the river Ruhr they open the first pizza parlor of the neighborhood, adding a little color to the steelworks and coalmines as well as to the local restaurant scene. While Romano is completely wrapped up in his role as restaurant owner, becoming prosperous and flirting with his female customers, his wife Rosa, after years of cooking and scrubbing, longs for her hometown in Apulia. And Gigi and Giancarlo? After the responsibilities of school and helping out in the family restaurant are taken care of, the two brothers experience their newfound freedom– with music, girls and their first joint. Hiding under a guise of macho attitude, Giancarlo envies his more popular brother who is following his dream of becoming a filmmaker. When they both fall for the same girl and become bitter rivals, the family breaks apart. Rosa and son Giancarlo return to Apulia. Ten years later, after the big issues of life have been resolved, the brothers meet again.