The plot tells us about a few days in the life of a simple Italian family. The head of the family, Signor Cuppiello, an employee of a small publishing house, is extremely enthusiastic and preoccupied - he needs to have time to make a festive toy-manger for Christmas. All his time and energy go into this. The rest of the family not only do not share his hobby, it even annoys them! His wife constantly grumbles about Cupiello. The son is a spoiled teenager who also turns out to be a thief. The brother has nowhere to live except the Cupiello house, and he haunts the whole family. The daughter has fallen in love and is going to leave her legal husband and run away with her lover! Signor Cupiello is a big child, not being able to establish peace in his family, he isolates himself from her by making toys. This brightens up his life. As for those around him, no one perceives the beauty that his soul is drawn to.