Word seems to be getting around that Merisi is a very talented painter. In bed with malaria, Michele himself is the last one to hear about it.

Among the pages of the comic strip, family members find familiar objects, drawings, and personal information from their everyday life. Although Valentina was a figment of Crepax's imagination, she was also an integral part of his family.

Amed is obsessed with the idea of eating the right kind of food to fight cancer, but he goes a little too far.

Giuseppe goes to see Giorgio to see if he has the power to save the hospital from the new "reforms," but Giorgio has other priorities and rebuffs him.

Camilla has to leave the school without being seen by the two men who are following her. In discussing the case with Berardi, she realizes there is only one person who can help exonerate her so the two of them pay this person a visit.

Nora is back, and as an excuse for keeping her distance, she uses the ruse Melody planned to employ with Giampi. But all this has to go on the back burner because there are new potential clients waiting downstairs.

Michele and Mario are having a hard time. But Michele can't bring himself to paint things he doesn't believe in, even at the risk of going hungry.

Amed is convinced that the girl who had promised special food, a while back, was a figment of their imagination. He goes so far as to call the nurse to see if she remembers the girl.

Steve Colato is being questioned at police headquarters. He still can't get over Ferrari being a policewoman. Little by little, they are getting some information from him. Meanwhile, it looks like Camilla might be in real trouble.

Aunt Clo calls at an inopportune moment and Nora can't fake things very well. Later she and Melody have a conversation about their bad luck with men.

Prosperino tries to sell Michele's painting of the "boy bitten by a lizard," and attempts to be professional. The three friends get their hopes up, but soon have to face reality. Michele and Mario quickly lose their patience and become belligerent.

Crepax's Valentina was an intriguing character because she openly reflected the sexual freedom of the late sixties and was attractive to both men and women. It was very "in" to be seen walking around with an issue of "Linus," an Italian comics magazine published in Italy beginning in 1965.

If Italian food culture is so famous the world over, Luigi wonders why it should be so bad in Italian hospitals.

Pasquale is a bit heavy-handed in his attempt to manage the collecting of money from the more well-to-do patients and Giuseppe has to step in. He and Nina sell off many of their possessions and Nina has a hard time of it. At the end of a long day, Giuseppe gets a surprise visit

Sonia and Gaetano are arranging a date for dinner when he gets a phone call from Camilla. She wastes no time but tells him to go to see Steve Colato. Torre and Ferrari do just that.