Somewhere in Northern Europe, at the end of 19th Century.
An isolated fortress stands on top of a hill. There's only one prisoner who's still being held in this desolated place: the man must have been found guilty of unspeakable acts to have been imprisoned in such a horrendous piace.
A new captain arrives at the fortress accompanied by his wife, Adele, and his seven-year-old son Ottaviano. Both her life, and that of the prisoner, is shaken by this new contact, and the prisoner once more becomes aware of a world outside his cell.