- In 1905, French seminarian Bruno Reidel is found guilty of murdering a child. At the request of the doctors observing him, he writes his memoirs to explain his action.
- Maurizio is a stubborn boy who grows up near the fiumara, where people throw away whatever they no longer need. This open-air dump becomes his playground, where among wrecked cars and other treasures large and small, he begins to dream of playing in the town band. Mamma Rosa looks on his musical aspirations as a childi…

