Piero Arca and his son Giuliano live alone on the outskirts of the city, on a farm full of injured animals they collect and nurse back to health. The Nonne, local notables, want to drive them out because they live like vagrants and because they cannot tolerate that Emilio, the youngest of the household, is cultivating an improper friendship precisely with Giuliano. During a snowfall, Piero disappears and the animals are killed. Giuliano has no choice but to set off in search of his father. Along the way, he meets Maddalena, who in turn lives with her father, the notary Branca. For both, it’s love at first sight, even though Maddalena is tied to the Nonne. Perhaps Giuliano knows how to get her to safety. There is a place where they could hide, which Piero showed him when he was a child. A place inhabited by a small community of refugees…