Deistvie romana Francheski Dzhannone proiskhodit na rodine avtora, Litstsanello, v Salento (Apuliya, Italiya), kuda v iyune 1934 goda priezzhaet severyanka Anna so svoim muzhem, yuzhaninom Karlo, kotoryi ochen rad vernutsya v rodnye mesta, i malenkim synom. Dlya mestnykh Anna navsegda ostanetsya «inostrankoi», uglovatoi svoevolnoi gordyachkoi, ostroi na yazyk i ne zhelayushchei sledovat konservativnym traditsiyam Yuga, etim vekovym nepisannym zakonam, skovyvayushchim yuzhnykh zhenshchin. A dlya Antonio, starshego brata Karlo, ego zhena, prekrasnaya, kak antichnaya statuya, stanet lyubovyu s pervogo vzglyada. God spustya, v 1935 godu, Anna sovershaet nechto poistine revolyutsionnoe: ona uchastvuet v pochtovom konkurse, pobezhdaet v nem i stanovitsya pervym pochtalonom Litstsanello. Eta novost zastavlyaet zhenshchin vorotit ot nee nosy i vyzyvaet nasmeshki muzhchin. «Eto ne prodlitsya dolgo», - yazvit kto-to. A vmesto etogo na protyazhenii bolee dvadtsati let Anna stanet nevidimoi nityu, obedinyayushchei zhitelei strany. Snachala peshkom, a potom na velosipede ona budet razvozit pisma soldat s fronta, otkrytki emigrantov, poslaniya tainykh lyubovnikov. Sama togo ne zhelaya - no, prezhde vsego, bezo vsyakogo na to zhelaniya obshchestva - pochtalonsha Anna mnogoe izmenit v Litstsanello.
Istoriya Anny - eto istoriya zhenshchiny, kotoraya khotela prozhit svoyu zhizn bez uslovnostei. i eto istoriya semi Greko i gorodka Litstsanello s 1930-kh po 1950-e gody. I istoriya dvukh bratev, kotorym suzhdeno lyubit odnu zhenshchinu.