On the day he learns he has a year to live, a Spanish Cardinal who has lived in the Vatican for 30 years learns he has a granddaughter, born without a father to his own illegitimate daughter. Against the Pope's advice, he returns home to sort out his worldly affairs, including a vineyard that supplies the Vatican. He must find a way to influence his brother, an atheistic physician and a bachelor, his imperious mother, his former lover (now married and raising his granddaughter), her husband, and his daughter, a stylish prostitute. He plans to marry his daughter to his brother, legitimize his grandchild, and leave the land within the family. But life gets in the way.