Teresa 1987

In the Italian province of Romagna, Teresa drives a lorry with her older husband, Stallino, who dies on the road. She soon discovers that his death left him owing a staggering 80 million lire to Nabucco, a powerful local entrepreneur who now stays close to her and contemplates marriage. To avoid a fate she doesn’t want, Teresa convinces Nabucco to let her keep working for a set period—until Ferragosto next year—so that she can earn enough to repay the debt, otherwise she would be bound to marry him.

Having no affection for Nabucco, Teresa continues to take whatever jobs she can find and, as co-driver, hires Gino, a cheerful, free-spirited young man who draws her interest. With his lack of money and her need to work, a conventional marriage isn’t an option, and their relationship often grows tense and stormy, even as attraction lingers.

Teresa’s journeys take her far afield: she retrieves a beer shipment from a German brewery, where the owner—a baron—desires to marry her, but Gino intervenes and rescues her from that fate. Later, she returns with a load of fresh fish in Sicily that is hijacked by the mafia and destroyed, an episode she negotiates through another perilous negotiation at the hands of a mafia boss. When the boss falls for her, he offers two million lire as compensation if she agrees to become his mistress. A gunfight erupts, and the boss is killed; Teresa pockets the money and is rescued by Gino.

Across a string of escapades along the road, she and Gino share moments of partnership and conflict, yet the question remains: will she ever truly tie herself to Nabucco, or will the pull of freedom and companionship with Gino win out in the end? As the altar moment approaches, she seems ready to say “I do,” but a sudden horn from her lorry cuts the moment loose. She rushes out to find Gino at the wheel, and the pair drive off toward the sunset, discarding bridal garb piece by piece as they escape together.

I do