Elisabeth and Massimo have been separated for two years and decide to affirm their independence with a divorce. The person who suffers the most from the situation is their son Marco, who normally lives with his father in a beautiful, but lonely country house. Marco's only satisfaction comes from riding his horse Socrates around the countryside, but Massimo sends the horse to his father-in-law in Sicily when, tired of solitude, he decides to sell everything and move into town. At this point, Marco, who has by chance witnessed the kidnapping and release of Gilberto, decides to flee and pretend he has been kidnapped to gain his parents' attention. His journey to Sicily, where his maternal grandfather lives near Ragusa, is crammed full of adventures, but the child makes it in the end, thanks to Rocco, a Neapolitan street urchin, who befriends him.

12岁的小男孩马丁（Alessandro Poggi 饰）和父母生活在意大利的威尼斯，他的家境殷实，生活富足，然而这些对马丁都不重要。他渴望父母慈祥的爱，但他们却过于专注自己，而忽略了儿子的感受。慢慢地，马丁幻想出一个虚拟的朋友——卢卡。马丁的乖张举动引起了母亲的注意，当她深入调查儿子以及那个虚幻的卢卡时却发现，那个卢卡似乎并非马丁幻想出来的孩子，他与这个家族的恩怨甚至可以追溯到马丁出生之前…… 本片改编自亨利•詹姆斯（Henry James）的小说《螺丝在上紧（The Turn of the Screw）》。