AllMovie

A small town has its placid waters rocked when a 120-piece orchestra is slated to visit on a regular basis to offer special concerts to the community and its environs. The honor of conducting the orchestra seems like it will fall to Francesco (Michele Placido), the community's most well-established music teacher, and to insure his success, his ambitious wife starts sleeping with one of the organizers of the future concerts. Meanwhile, a disgruntled member of the organizing committee decides to muddy the waters by suggesting that another conductor (Andrea, a friend of Francesco's) be hired. Andrea is also a native son who went to the big city to find conducting work but ended up doing television jobs instead. When he receives the call about the prestigious job opportunity, he enthusiastically goes to the town but his wife refuses to join him. While back home again, Andrea rekindles old friendships and lost ties with an uncle, and realizes that he must try hard to get this conducting job. Soon he and his old friend Francesco are entrenched in solid competition with each other, not sure at all about the outcome.