Bologna 1938 - Michele Casali (Silvio Orlando) is living a desperate situation: Giovanna (Alba Rohrwacher), his only child, a teenager, has killed out of jealousy his classmate and best friend. Within the middle-class environment in which the crime has ocurred, the story provokes strong emotion and disbelief. Avoiding jail, she is determined to be mentally disturbed and therefore locked up in a psychiatric hospital in Reggio Emilia where she remains until the age of 24 years (1945). During this period of almost total isolation, the only person who takes care of her is the father who moves from Bologna specifically, where he taught art in high school Galvani, to Reggio.