Ostia, outskirts of Rome: the beach in winter. Two sixteen-year-old boys steal a scooter at 8 in the morning, then rob a store, all in time for getting to school at 9. Nader is Egyptian, but was born in Rome. Stefano is Italian and his best friend Brigitte, Nader’s girlfriend, is also Italian, but for this very reason Nader’s parents are against the match, and Nader runs away from home. The film describes a week in the life of a teenager who tries to subvert the values of his own family. Torn between his Arab and Italian identity, audacious and in love, like the hero of a contemporary fairy tale, Nader will have to put up with the cold, the loneliness, life on the street, hunger and fear, the flight from his enemies and the loss of his friends, before he can really understand who he is.

The story of four inmates during their 48 hours furlough, of their reality and how it has brought them behind bars. The characters are described with realism, with their contradictions, their desperation, the temptation of an escape, but the cornerstone of the movie is the sincerity of the positive feelings of each and everyone of them: the love of a father for his son, the love for a woman, for friends, and most of all the pursuit of a lost (if ever had) personal dignity and pride. Four characters of different ages and extractions, three man and a woman: Luigi, Donato, Rossana and Angelo.

Young and in prison for theft, Daphne falls in love with Josh, another inmate. Their love story exists through secret letters and fleeting conversations.