Rosa is a woman with a tyrannical attitude. She is worried about her eldest daughter Anita, who is courted by Checco, a carpenter. Rosa is afraid her daughter will end up marrying a drunkard like her husband. He is a stubborn horse cart driver in a city (Florence) where everybody is turning to automobiles. Rosa's concern about Anita prevents her from realizing that her younger daughter, Ida, who is all by herself and resembles the still water of the title of the movie, is about to flee from home with Alfredo, a sort of journalist.