Days before she is to leave Rio de Janeiro to return to Rome, Italian physician Claudia Maccari finds a newborn on her doorstep. Having recently miscarried, Claudia keeps the baby, names him Dino, and takes him with her to Italy. But six years later Dino is diagnosed with leukemia; his only hope is a bone-marrow transplant from a relative. Claudia returns to Rio and eventually finds Dino's real mother, but Claudia's troubles have just begun.