The story is set at the beginning of the 20th century in Sicily. Salvatore, a very poor farmer, and a widower, decides to emigrate to the US with all his family, including his old mother. Before they embark, they meet Lucy. She is supposed to be a British lady and wants to come back to the States. Lucy, or Luce as Salvatore calls her, for unknown reasons wants to marry someone before to arrive to Ellis Island in New York. Salvatore accepts the proposal. Once they arrive in Ellis Island they spend the quarantine period trying to pass the examinations to be admitted to the States. Tests are not so simple for poor farmers coming from Sicily. Their destiny is in the hands of the custom officers.

In an undefined place and time, the young Fadi flees from a country at war, taking with him a violin case that he never parts with. Accompanied by a group of other migrants, Fadi crosses deserts and seas on a journey fraught with obstacles. Along the way, he meets the mysterious Naila and a group of other young people who do not make his life easy. At the end of their journey, upon arriving at the long-awaited land of Spes, the travelers find themselves facing an insurmountable wall.