乔在父亲死后,陪母亲卡特琳娜赴意大利参加歌剧演出,却因寂寞而染上毒瘾,使卡特琳娜份外心痛,对乔百般迁就,竟使两人发展出一段畸恋,在道德觉醒下,幸未造成大错。卡特琳娜不得已将隐藏多年,乔另有生父的秘密说出,为使父母破镜重圆,乔乃前去找寻亲身父亲。 导演用弗洛伊德的精神分析学说来阐述这对母子的行为,认为人的所有意义和能力都源自于性欲的需求,月亮是代表母亲和女性形象的载体,以隐喻母亲对儿子的性影响Recently widowed American opera diva Caterina takes her teenaged son Joe with her on a long singing tour to Italy. Absorbed in her hectic work in various Verdi operas around Rome, Caterina is soon shocked to discover that her troubled and lonely son has become a heroin addict. Her desperate attempts to wean the youth off the drug result in an incestuous relationship, but also in a possibility to reunite Joe--maybe even herself--with his real father, whose existence she has kept a secret from him.