The film is one of a series of lightcomediesdirected by Grieco at a period in his career when he could not make serious films. Mariarosa, a cow, is the prize in an annual raffle held by a village in Abruzzo. One year the winner is a visitor who works in a government ministry in Rome, Virgilio, and he decides to keep the cow. Eventually he is persuaded to honourcustom and return her to be raffled off again the following year; in the process he finds love.