Antonello sends a confession letter to a religious magazine hoping that it will be published. In a hospital room a priest lies in bed recovering from a terrible car accident. Padre Z., through his column “Conversations with the Father”, responds to his readers’ letters with unshakable conviction, aided by his devoted and resigned assistant Domenico. Each envelope is marked by the existential conflicts of human nature. Some are creased and tear-stained, others adorned with desperate pleas or wry comments on life’s seemingly insurmountable challenges. The latest letter is that of Antonello, in which the brutal murder of a boy is claimed. The letter has the features of a macabre and grotesque story where every word is engraved with the anguish of a soul teetering on the abyss of damnation.
Antonello’s pathetic request dances between the realms of reality and imagination, leaving the doubt of guilt like a specter uttering in the room.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES:
In the film, all the letters and their corresponding responses are entirely taken from the column "Conversations with the Father," published in the Catholic-inspired weekly Famiglia Cristiana. The character of Father Z. is loosely inspired by Don Giuseppe Zilli, the magazine's director from 1954 to 1980. Antonello's final letter is drawn from the novel Morte Sospesa by Attilio Lolini. The letters were carefully selected through a laborious process aimed at weaving a tapestry of existential doubts that vary widely from one another. This synthesis process led to the identification of nine letters that comprehensively represent a snapshot of the fears and desires of Italy during those years. Yet, in the exchange between the priest and his flock, the same dramas of the present resonate.