Valentina Gaia

Rome, 30 April 1993. A crowd throws coins at Italian politician Bettino Craxi - as if the Civil War has begun. Be quick if you want a place in the new system. Now, it's every man for himself. 1993 is the last chance to set up the Second Republic. Everyone fights their own battles.

After the breakdown of the old government, and with it the First Republic, Italy changed for good in 1994. Spinster Leo is all too aware of this. He pushed hard to see Berlusconi get elected Prime Minister. He knows it's not easy to win power, but holding on to it verges on the impossible. By the same token, it seems equally impossible for populist politician Pietro to change. Even now that he has an office at the Prime Minister's premises in Rome, he still can't cast off his old bad habits. Nor can he forget the only woman he has ever loved. A former TV starlet now turned politician and Congresswoman, Veronica has to decide who the man of her life is going to be. She has realized she no longer wants to be just a woman on the arm of powerful men. It is the start of her own push for power.

As a major criminal investigation tries to stem the flow of corruption, Italy is poised on the brink of collapse.

Alex Belli is a 37 year old advertising executive whose fiancée Elena has just left him, and who is having difficulty at work trying to think of a good advertising campaign for a new Japanese product. Niki is a bubbly 17 year old student. She has three best friends with whom she shares all her problems, and an annoying ex-boyfriend Fabio who is set on getting her back, but Niki's not interested. One day on his way to work, Alex collides with Niki on a city street. They soon begin a romance, despite their 20-year age gap.