In barca a vela contromano

PlotThirty-year-old Massimo is admitted to hospital for surgery to his knee ligaments. His room mate, Luigi, has spent years in hospital because of some botched operations. He tells Massimo that the operation may not be as straightforward as it seems and that it would be better for him to surrender his place to elderly people who have long been on the waiting list. Luigi is actually playing on his role as hospital 'expert' to trade some hospital beds in league with the nurses. Everything seems to be going as planned. What Luigi does not know, however, is that Massimo is not a real patient at all but an unemployed doctor who has been entrusted by the management with exposing the trade in hospital beds. Massimo soon realizes that Luigi has become a real point of reference for the ward. He befriends him and starts questioning the task assigned to him by Cupreo, an ambitious doctor who aspires to become head physician. Uncertain as to how he ought to proceed, in the end Massimo succeeds in making each of the guilty parties come clean and leaves the hospital after having learnt some important lessons.