Alberto (Claudio Bisio) is the supervisor of a post office in a small town in Northern Italy. Pressured by his wife Silvia (Angela Finocchiaro), he is willing to do anything to receive a transfer to a more prestigious position in the great capital of the North, Milan. Indeed, he even fakes a disability to get preferential treatment, but his subterfuge is discovered, quite hilariously, and as punishment he is sent to a post office in an even smaller town in the Deep South.
For a proud northerner like Alberto, this is a nightmare. Full of prejudices, he expects Southern Italy to be a land run by the mafia with streets strewn with garbage. Unwilling to suffer this indignity, Silvia agrees with Alberto the he is going to have to go it alone. But to his great surprise he finds his new home charming, his colleagues inviting and the population gracious. He bonds, in particular, with Mattia (Alessandro Siani), a letter carrier, and Alberto will help him to win back the heart of the beautiful Maria (Valentina Lodovini).
There is only one problem: how to tell Silvia. Since he left, not only has their relationship improved, but, because of his apparent sacrifice, Alberto has become a hero to all of his friends back in the North…