Francesco is an introverted guy, born in a small village surrounded by nature in the mountains of Calabria. He grows up with Mimmo, his best friend, with whom he shares everything until adolescence. One day he finds a book, which becomes almost a magical object that will change the course of his life. Francesco has a dream and he will find the courage to pursue it against everything and everyone: not only the society around him, that makes him feel trapped in a labyrinth of unwritten psychological and social rules, but also against Mimmo.

At the end of the 1950s in Africo, a small village in the southern valley of Aspromonte, a woman dies in childbirth because a doctor fails to arrive on time. No road connects Africo with the other villages. In the wake of this tragedy, all of Africo’s citizens -including children - abandon their usual occupations and unite to build their own road. Giulia, the new schoolteacher, comes from the North with a mission to teach standard Italian to help bring cultural cohesion with Africo and the rest of Italy. But she will have to contend with the local mafioso Don Totó, who is determined to ensure this the town remains cut off, and thus, under his power.