Passengers aboard a seemingly doomed plane reminisce about their lives, questioning the façade of their daily social activities. Once safe at Santos Dumont Airport, they go back to their old hypocritical selves.
A handsome newcomer in a village marries a local girl. A year or so later an abandoned baby is left on the couple's doorstep, a baby the man had with another woman.
Two small boys are playing in a wood. The younger boy has a revolver and, not understanding that the gun differs from his toy pistol, plays 'highwayman' on the road and holds up a cyclist; the gun goes off, killing the cyclist.
The story takes plays during the annual Good Friday pageant in a tiny Italian village. Local priest Don Vincenzo faces a crisis when the girl selected to play the Virgin Mary shows up pregnant.