Dora Orefice (Nicoletta Braschi)’s Timeline and Summary
- Guido first meets Dora as she's falling out of a barn. She was trying to burn a hornet nest, and apparently that's something you have to do in your Sunday best.
- Dora and Guido bump into each other again as Guido's bravely running away from Rodolfo. Guido learns that Dora teaches at a nearby school.
- Guido impersonates a national official at Dora's school to ask her out. She says she's got plans on Sunday.
- Dora and her fiancé, that Rodolfo guy, go to the movies. She's more than a little peeved to learn that Rodolfo has them dining at the Prefect's house later that evening.
- Dora gets into a car expecting Rodolfo. Surprise—it's Guido.
- Guido spends the evening charming the pants off Dora. Actually, it was the car door that ripped her dress, but you take our point.
- Dora goes to her engagement party and decides Rodolfo isn't the guy for her because obviously.
- She secretly meets Guido under a table and asks him to take her away. Guido obliges the request and rides off with Dora on a green horse. (Trust us, this actually makes sense in the context of the movie.)
- Years later, Dora and Guido are married and have a son, Joshua.
- Dora arrives at Joshua's birthday party but finds the place ransacked. Her husband, son, and Uncle Eliseo have been taken by the state for transport to a concentration camp.
- She goes to the train depot to argue there has been some mistake, but to no avail. Rather than have her family separated, Dora chooses to go to the camp with them.
- At the camp, Dora has no contact with her husband and son.
- One day, Guido and Joshua sneak onto an intercom to send a message to Dora. Her spirits are lifted knowing they're still alive.
- When the war ends and the Nazis abandon the camp, Dora leaves with the rest of the prisoners. On the road, she's reunited with Joshua, who was rescued by the Americans.
- The two embrace as Joshua excitedly tells her that they won.
- Yes, says Mom. They won.