Madame Rosa (Sophia Loren), transplanted from La Pigalle in Paris to a seaside town in Italy, is a former prostitute who serves as a caretaker and mother figure for the children of her erstwhile colleagues in the sex-work industry. One day, she is asked to take on a particularly challenging case: A 12-year-old Senegalese immigrant named Momo (Ibrahima Gueye), with whom she has immediate, volatile chemistry. The two fight, tussle and argue, two wounded souls who, when they finally begin to let their guards down, are much more alike than different.