Bologna, 2002. Amidst protests against the labor reform, the assassination of a lawyer opens old wounds between Italy and France. Former far-left terrorist Marco, convicted of murder during the Years of Lead and living in Paris since then thanks to the Mitterrand Doctrine, is suspected of being its instigator. When the Italian government asks for extradition, Marco goes into hiding with his daughter Viola, precipitating also the life of his family back in Italy.

After the War

In Italy in the 90s, Zena, daughter of the Pope's doctor and granddaughter of a former fascist, is admitted to a reformatory, Villa Bianca, where deviances are “cured”, the last resort for the parents of Italian good society who wish to “repair” a rebellious generation. There, she meets and befriends three teenagers: a young nymphomaniac, Alfonso, a whimsical young man who intends to express his homosexuality, and Adriano, who has been mute since his mother's disappearance.