At the end of the 19th century, in a small village in the Apennines, in a house lost in the middle of a valley, live Alessandro and Pietro, two very different but very close brothers. The two children, aged eleven and thirteen, carefree and full of energy, live like two wild animals, always getting into trouble and spending their days racing carts, diving into the river, and stealing from the cellar. When their mother dies, their father sells his last possessions to buy his sons two beautiful, untamed foals, Baio and Sauro. As adults, while Alessandro feels a growing desire to cross the mountains and go far away, Pietro wants to become a breeder and live with Veronica, the girl he loves.