Lucia, born in a small Italian village in 1933, is orphaned twice. Abandoned by her mother, she is first adopted from the orphanage by a peasant couple as a field worker up in the mountains of South Tyrol. When they die, Lucia is only 8 years old. Back to the orphanage, she is entrusted to Sisto and Gianni looking for a housemaid. Italy is at war in 1941 and the mother superior thinks this is the best possible solution for a girl her age. Lucia has a hard time adjusting to living with Sisto and Gianni. Nevertheless, the secretly gay couple –homosexuality was a crime during Fascism – soon begins treating her more like the daughter they wanted while Lucia keeps fantasizing about her real mother and longs to meet her. Having been tipped in secret about who her biological mother is and where she lives, adult Lucia sets off to Belgium to meet her. It is only after spending a few days with her biological mother that Lucia truly understands that she had been having a family all along.