Mario Ferrara Villalta, a nobleman, does not realize that Nino Esposito is secretly a confidant of Don Alfredo Spinosa, a boss of the Camorra , and Roberto's father, his classmate, and appointed him as secretary, unaware of reports of the young with the underworld. Being a close friend of Roberto, Nino agrees to accompany him to a party held in the luxurious villa owned by a girl named Claudia Vieri, daughter of an industrialist friend of Roberto's father.

The film tells episodes in the life of seventeen-old Gongia in 1920s Albany that lead her to the decision of becoming a nun under the name of sister Teresa.

Based on the memoirs of author Curzio Malaparte, diplomatic liaison between the Allied and Italian forces after the defeat of the Nazis in Italy, The Skin follows the collapse of Italian society under the US occupation and the desperate measures required for survival.