The fiction retraces the Vermicino incident, a famous crime story from 1981 in which a six-year-old boy, Alfredo Rampi, died three days after accidentally falling into an artesian well. The story had a notable impact on the press and on Italian public opinion.

With her father on trial, 15-year-old Mignon leaves Paris to stay with her Italian relatives. The rather prim, snooty teen at first struggles to fit in with the more earthy Forbicioni family, each with their own problems. Eventually she bonds with her lovestruck little cousin Giorgio—who'll learn important life lessons over the course of his summer with Mignon.

After many years, a retired diplomat returns to his native Sicily to visit an abandoned property and delve into family correspondence. But is it worth bringing up the past? A difficult Sicilian history against the backdrop of the mafia and drugs.