A brother is released from prison and returns home to claim his share of his father's inheritance, only to find that not only was he cut out of the will, but that his long-simmering rivalry with his older brother has continued. Their feud ultimately culminates in bloodshed in this archetypal narrative that would be at home in the tales of ancient Greece or the works of Shakespeare, yet takes place this time in present-day Italy. The roots of this ancient family dilemma are the deeply-seated human vices of greed and ignorance. Director/writer Paola Colombo's Blood Ties was made in the region of Molise, one of the loveliest yet poorest places in Italy. The film tells the story of four siblings whose lives have never moved on. Giovanni has been in jail for bank fraud. He believes that the only thing that stands in the way of leaving the family's squalid mountaintop home is the money that his brother Peppe is keeping from him. Giovanni, however, comes to realize that his younger brother, Andrea, also binds him to the family. Andrea has Down syndrome, and his unconditional love creates a bond that Giovanni finds hard to break. Luana, their sister, tries to act as mediator between the warring brothers, but her intervention only precipitates the tragedy. Colombo's choice of location, the mountains of Casacalenda, contrasts the breathtaking magnificence of nature with the savagery of the human soul.