A teenage girl who lives with her grandparents in France learns about art, beauty, and womanhood from the underpaid models who pose for her grandfather's paintings. One of the former exploited models becomes a mentor to the girl and inspires her to make things right.

A house painter fixes up a beat-up jalopy with a neighbor boy. As the two spend more time together, the boy’s family strife escalates.

An Italian family waits anxiously for the return of a brother who is serving in the First World War, but the family dynamic devolves as the days pass and he does not come home.