Six people in a small Danish town are all in such despair over their lives that their only source of happiness is the weekly Italian class they all take. Andreas is a minister whose wife has recently died. While staying in a local hotel, he befriends the lonely concierge, who has a crush on an Italian waitress from the hotel cafe. She, meanwhile, must deal with her rude and aggressive boss. Two women in the class are both careers for elderly parents, and both are having difficulties with their bad-tempered relatives.