The couple, Carlo and Anna, step off a bus that stops in the main square of Lizzanello, a village in southern Italy. Carlo is overjoyed to be back home, followed by his wife, Anna, beautiful as a Greek statue, yet sad and apprehensive. What awaits her in this foreign land? Even after thirty years of living among them, Anna remains, in the eyes of the villagers, the "foreigner" from the north. She defies their traditions, isn't ashamed to express her feelings openly, handles everything she encounters with confidence, and refuses to conform to the rules that restrict southern women. In a direct challenge to these constraints, Anna enters a competition to become a postwoman and wins, becoming the first woman to hold that position in Lizzanello, a move met with disapproval from most of the villagers. Anna begins working, which gives her the opportunity to enter every home in the village and get to know its inhabitants. For more than twenty years, she remains the invisible thread that binds the villagers together. But, to the dismay and astonishment of the villagers, will the postwoman bring about any change in Lizzanello?