In 1504, a handsome and wealthy young man, named Callimaco (koji Yakusho), comes back to his hometown, Florence, after living in Paris for nearly ten years. He was supposed to settle down in Paris, but now he has changed his mind. The fact is tht he has fallen in love with a beautiful lady, Lucrezia (Mai Okamoto), the beloved wife of Dr. Nicia (Tatsuya Nakadai), a noted celebrity in Florence.
Nicia and Lucrezia are a happily married couple, enjoying education, status, and fame, but not blessed with children. Sizing upon their shortcoming, Ligurio (Kei Yamamoto), a friend of Callimaco has hit on an idea to let Callimaco to fulfill his desire. The Key is to invent a secret fake medicine, called mandragola, which is effective in removing sterility. Reportedly with this medicine, the French queen has been blessed with a crown prince.
But the problem is that the 'medicine' has got a serious side effect, that is, the first man who has relations with the woman who has taken this medicine is destined to die exactly in eight days time.
The only method to solve this problem, (that is, so as to prevent Nocia from dying and for Lucrezia to have a child) is for Lucrezia, after taking the medicine, to sleep with an unknown young man for only one night.
Callimaco performs as this 'unknown young man' and is successfully sent to Lucrezia's bedroom with her consent. ....
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