Italy (Sicily) 2006.
Marco Brioni, a young elementary school teacher living a quiet life in Rome, is suddenly offered a one year teaching position in a small Sicilian town. The decision to accept this new teaching job will change his life forever… In Sicily he meets Salvatore, an orphan who has lost both of his parents, and who must deal with unusual circumstances and responsibilities for a boy of his age . He lives with his grandmother Maria and younger sister Mariuccia in a little house by the sea. Salvatore supports his grandmother and sister by going to work at the tomato warehouse that had belonged to his father and catching fish for them to eat right in front of their home. Working and living like an adult doesn’t leave him any time for school. Marco, who takes Salvatore’s situation to heart, will end up going to his house to give him lessons and the two of them will become inseparable. Salvatore sees Marco as the father he never had and vice versa. In the end Marco will become so involved in Salvatore’s own life that he will endanger the little boy’s livelihood, causing a social worker to intervene..