Mario and Veronica, a married couple with no children, are both very committed to their careers, which are booming. He's a sales representative for a fertilizer company, while she inherited a boutique from her mother that she wants to renovate and transform. However, things take an unexpected turn when she discovers she's pregnant. What should be good news backfires, as he, almost at the same time, receives test results declaring him sterile.

The Merchant (Harvey Keitel) is a Westerner. A merchant dealing in precious stones from Afganistan and Turkey. He's above suspicion. In truth, the "Stone Merchant" is a Christian convert into Islam. He's rich, cultured, fascinating. Leda (Jane March) is a successful woman who works as Head of the Public Relations for a big company. She's married to Alceo, a professor at the Sapienza University, specialized in the history of terrorist movements. Alceo is on a wheel chair. He lost his legs in the attack to the American Embassy in Nairobi in 1998. Shahid is a terrorist. Now he's planning an attack along the English Channel. Their lives, their destinies cross in Turkey, where Leda and Alceo are on holiday. And the plot will go on to Rome and Turin till the epilogue of the attack on the ferry boat.