Italy, 1947. Attilio is a Fascist and disgraced former movie star. Out of desperation, he joins a band of robbers for a heist. After the robbery, Attilio and the robbers take refuge in a house that proves to be deadly.

Viper is the nickname Leone, a blacksmith in a small Sicilian village, gave to his wife, who ran off with another man. The war ends: the fascists disguise themselves first as communists and then as Christian Democrats, and the poor survive by dancing and drinking. Leone's daughter Rosetta becomes pregnant; Leone dies, and the newborn (named Fortunato) is taken from his very young mother, who ends up in an institution. When Rosetta comes of age, she is reunited with her "witch" mother and her son.