Genoa, 1963. Three men - a French bootlegger, an indolent pimp and a Sardinian shepherd - decide to risk everything on a hit that will change their lives. They succeed, but the shepherd fakes his death, by killing his twin brother, and takes off with his girlfriend and the money. Racked with remorse, he hands the cash over to a priest he meets on a train. However, fate has a bad joke left to play on him.