A young seminarian who can't be ordained because of a speech impediment leaves the seminary to take a job with a wealthy baroness' crippled son. The seminarian is actually what the italian title of the movie describes as an exploitative parasite ( saprofita), first bedding the baroness and consequently pushing her impotent husband to commit suicide, then taking off to Lourdes with the boy, who hopes for a miracle, and finally seducing a very devout woman who is visiting the site with her grandmother, who unexpectedly dies. Sergio Nasca's (an assistant director of Marco Bellocchio) decadent erootic drama debut