Gabriele returns home in southern Italy to bid farewell to his father Ernesto, a former stationmaster in a small town not far from Bari. The old man reawakens in Gabriele memories of his childhood, of his loving mother, his uncle, his friends... but also of his father's rage and bitterness over his failure in achieving his artistic ambitions: Ernesto was convinced he was destined to be a famous painter, and was willing to sacrifice everything for this belief, even his own dignity – and this made his son swear that he wouldn't turn out like him. Only now, many years later, through chance and circumstances, Gabriele begins to understand Ernesto and to see what sort of person his father really was.