Caterino is a worker at the Ilva factory in Taranto. When the company executives decide to use him as a spy to identify the workers they should get rid of, Caterino starts to track his colleagues, in search of reasons to report them. He then asks to be assigned himself to the Palazzino LAF where as punishment, some employees sit out their time with no job assignment. There he discovers that what looks like paradise is actually a strategy to psychologically break troublesome workers.

Mario is a mussels fisherman (Indattaraiu, in the original sardinian) who has dedicated his whole life to the sea and to his family. Now sixty years old, widowed and destitute, he finds himself at an impasse: he loves his job but he is no longer able to do it, so his son and daughter want him to sell "Sara", his beloved boat.

Spain, April 15, 1939. With the Civil War concluded, and with the intention of celebrating his victory, General Franco attends a dinner with his generals at the Palace Hotel.