The series L'arte della gioia tells the story of Modesta, a young Sicilian girl from the early 1900s who, born into poverty, fights to conquer love, freedom and power. After a tragic accident that tears her away from her family, she is welcomed into a convent where, thanks to her intelligence and stubbornness, she becomes the protégé of the Mother Superior. She later arrives at the villa of Princess Brandiforti, where she makes herself indispensable. This incessant movement of emancipation is accompanied by a path of personal and sexual maturation, which leads her to discover and claim the right to pleasure and happiness.