Rosa Maria, a young history professor, sets sail with her daughter on a cruise. The ship is leaving Lisbon and is to cross the Mediterranean bound for Bombay, in India, where Rosa's husband awaits them. During the crossing, for the first time, she visits Marseille, the ruins of Pompeii, Ceuta, Athens, the pyramids in Egypt and Istambul - sites representative of the different cultures that marked western civilization. Some people draw their attention; a well-known French woman entrepreneur, a famous Italian ex-model, an actress, and a professor of Greek, and, above all, the captain of the ship, an American of Polish origins. But a strange threat when the ship is crossing the Persian Gulf, is to disrupt the cruise and bring distress to the passengers. The director explains the title as: "This is A Talking Picture in that it is spoken in various languages. Because each of these languages represents a contribution given to the evolution of western civilization". Shown at the 27th Mostra.