The story is the harried attempt of a Sicilian partisan, as part of the risorgimento, to reach Garibaldi's headquarters in Northern Italy, and to petition the revered revolutionary to rescue part of his besieged land. Along the way, the peasant hero encounters many colorful Italians, differing in class and age, and holding political opinions of every type. There is a key train scene, and the film ends on the battlefield, Italian unification a success, despite brutal losses.

Two siblings lose their parents amidst turmoil in revolutionary France and are adopted by a peasant family. Once grown up, the older brother enlists in the Napoleonic Wars.

Paolina is the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Vallenza, and lives as a beggar. She meets with Nunzio, a blind man who plays violin, exploited by his stepfather, and the two fall in love. The old Duke, remorsing, tries to find his daughter but he doesn't manage and leaves everything to his latest concubine, Livia, while Nunzio and Paolina will live in misery. The only copy of this film was destroyed in World War Two