A young woman hanging clothes on a line happily points out the arrival of "manine" or fluffy Populus nigra seeds floating on the wind. The old man pottering beside her replies, "When fluff-balls come, cold winter's done." In the village square, schoolboys jump around trying to pluck puffballs out of the air. Giudizio (Aristide Caporale), the town idiot, looks into the camera and recites a poem to spring and the swirling, drifting "manine".