In Rome, Michele Apicella moves to a new apartment and starts a new job as mathematics teacher in the experimental Marilyn Monroe high school where most of the staff are, like him, eccentric. A solitary man, scrupulous about his work, one of his obsessions is the life of his new neighbours. He befriends a young couple, Maximilian and Aurora, but is deeply upset when he sees the girl with another man. She is found dead and the police inspector, thinking that Michele may know more than he reveals, puts him under surveillance.