Returning to Puglia where as a teenager he was involved in violent rebellions against his tyrannic father, Luigi, now a mature philosophy lecturer, is confronted with the troubled atmsosphere of a world that he thought he had left behind for good. Together with his brothers, Michele, a mediocre businessman, and Mario, an eternal student, Luigi seeks in vain to convince their half-brother Aldo, a violent womaniser like his father, to sell a half-abandoned family farm.