Against a background of Florence and its neighboring towns is set the story of young Lucinda and her friendship with a Florentine family. When Lucinda, her father and her artist mother arrive in the celebrated city they anticipate a rich experience of sightseeing. But before long their natural warmth allies them to a gifted crippled girl who wants to be an artist, and her alert little brother who with a homing pigeon named Columbina.