Using his own novel as source material, director Pier Paolo Pasolini crafts a philosophical fable about a father (famed Italian comedian Toto) and son (Ninetto Davoli) and their experiences with a talking crow (voiced by Francesco Leonetti), an allegorical comedy that pokes fun at the moral imperatives of modern Italy. Part of the story finds the trio interacting with St. Francis of Assisi, who insists they convert the bird to Catholicism.