In one of the small Italian towns, where houses stuck to a steep cliff, and instead of streets there are only stairs, at the very top of it there lives a reclusive monk. The isolation made the monk moody and irritable. Once he was forced to leave his shelter in order to go down to the city. On the way down, step by step, he is drawn into the maelstrom of the motley life of ordinary Italians. Wedding, funerals, christenings, lunch – everywhere he was a welcome guest. When the monk finally reaches the end of the street-stairs, he begins to look at life in a completely different way.