A high-ranking officer of the Italian Communist Party discovers he is a vampire and leaves his position, retreating to the abandoned residence of his deceased grandfather. There he finds the diary of his grandfather that gives him the answers he needs.

A despairing man murders his wife and his son on New Year's Eve before surrendering to the police. Placed in the custody of sexually abusive relatives, his only surviving child Vito is left free to roam the trash-strewn back streets of Naples where he and his friends engage in drug abuse, prostitution and petty crime.