Massimo Sisti is a reputable professional with a nice house, a happy marriage, and two loving daughters, whose life is turned upside down when one day he finds a little girl tied up in his basement.

Marcello is a professional film restorer and an avid cinephile. While working on some of the most popular titles of Italian cinema, he comes across a strange figure almost hidden among the extras - a man wearing a bowler hat and looking directly toward the camera, perhaps even at Marcello himself! He finds the same man in many other films from different movie ages. He grows obsessed with this figure, even if it seems Marcello is the only one who can see him.