The shy and reserved Nello Balocchi, (Neri Marcore) a thirty-five year old teacher of Greek and Latin, is invited to Bologna by his father Cesare (Giancarlo Giannini), who owns the Papal tailor's shop in Rome. Cesare hopes that by inviting his son to Bologna he will find a soulmate - thus producing an heir to the family business.

He stays in a guest-house run by Arabella, a wise woman who knows all about his situation, and shares a room with Domenico, a crafty barber from Naples. After several unsuccessful efforts, Nello meets Angela (Vanessa Incontrada) at a tea dance for the institute for the blind, and Nello falls hopelessly in love with the exuberant, beautiful, blind girl.

However all is not well for the young couple, as both Angela's father and Nello's father disapprove of their relationship, but the real problem is Angela's temperament...A period piece set in the 1920s, A HEART ELSEWHERE is a sweeping romantic drama which criss-crosses memories and affairs of the heart.