It took three years of preparations to make a film about a carefree teenage life in the countryside of central and southern Italy. Director Leone had a clever idea of casting young locals and giving them specific tasks to perform or situations to provoke. Unscripted reality, improvised reactions and staged sequences blend romantically in a candid hybrid documentary in which the protagonists write and act out scripts of their summer dreams. Leone is fascinated by how they flirt, seduce, kiss, navigate relationships and behave in more complex ways. These rebellious boys ride Piaggio Ape three-wheelers to meet their girlfriends or would-be girlfriends.

Ape means bee in Italian. Leone finds a heartfelt connection between bees and teenagers in love. The bee flies to the sweetest flower for honey, and the main character, Nicola, has a secret hope of attracting the attention of his coveted sweetheart, Matilde - one of the prettiest girls in town. But he is naively worried about catching AIDS. At the same time, another friend, Giuliano, dares to tell his parents that he is gay.