Working with celebrated Italian comic Totò, Pier Paolo Pasolini constructs an episodic fable that is whimsical and political. A strolling father and son are confronted by a talking raven who, using parables, attempts to make the pair understand how their behavior has been shaped by capitalism. They travel back in time to meet St. Francis and return to the present full of knowledge and inspiration, only to become disillusioned by life's realities.