Leonardo Revelli has everything he needs to be happy: his first film as a screenwriter is about to be released in cinemas, the love of a French girl whom he loves passionately in return, and two parents who have always made him feel special ever since he was a child. So special, in fact, that Leonardo has come to believe it himself, an only child in every sense of the word. Giovanni and Laura, established psychoanalysts in Turin, have built a family unit around him held together by a very specific mythology: any form of mediocrity is out of the question and pain is banished. When Laura is struck by a serious illness, her husband falls into a despair that renders him unrecognisable, and, with no inhibitions, he reveals himself for what he is: a misfit in both practical and emotional life. Leonardo then suddenly finds himself without certainties or points of reference, in a one-on-one relationship with his father who, like a mirror, shows him that he is just like everyone else.