Teodor is just twenty-two, a student struggling to survive under the regime of President Ceausescu. One day his world is turned upside down when a young language graduate, Ariella, arrives in the city at the 12th International Linguistics Congress. She is so different from any girl Teodor has met before - beautiful, bright and optimistic - and for him it is love at first sight. But there is one big obstacle. Ariella is Italian and contact between Romanians and Westerners is not allowed by the laws of the tyrannical regime. Despite this, once Ariella returns to Italy, their relationship...