He teaches in Milan where he had moved several years earlier due to his bad relationship with his father. Luigi and his brothers, Michele and Aldo, want to sell an old family farm but their project is hindered by their step-brother Aldo, who just like their father, has an aggressive personality and spends his time running after women. Luigi decides to take a trip down South but soon enough the old-time wounds of the past resurface more lively than ever. Things degenerate when all brothers are acquitted for a homicide that each blames the other for. When Luigi decides to investigate on his own, the research brings him to examine the past of his family, his own, but even his present, including his relationship with his wife.