In the first scene Nemesio is acting in a play, taking the role of a Tuscan peasant speaking in the regional dialect from the 13th century. The ignorant peasant discovers violence, beauty, the intelligence of women and the horrors of war. 
In the second scene Nemesio, now a famous and acclaimed actor, is preparing himself to go on stage. Mere moments before taking the scene, his wife visits him and gives him the news: after nine years of marriage she’s leaving him.  Nemesio, shocked and mimicking his wife, regales us with the storm of insults and swears he is bombarded with. He has to face his narcissism and selfishness. 
In the third and last scene, Nemesio has abandoned everything and moved to the Roman periphery. He now lives in a large trash can, like the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who had chosen to live in a barrel and speak of life, goodness wickedness. Nemesio no longer speaks the erudite and clean Italian language of the once famous actor he was, but in Roman dialect. The curious and colorful language that his father would speak to him as a kid, whilst beating him.