Milton, a member of the resistance, chances upon an abandoned villa nestling in the hills of Piedmont where, as a student, he was in love with the beautiful Fulvia. He has his suspicions that she was more inclined towards his friend Giorgio, now a captured member of the same partisan division. In order to find out the truth from Giorgio himself, Milton sets off to find him, travelling through a region where the last battles are being staged before the liberation of Italy. His perilous journey, which sees him caught in the lines of fire between partisan units, fleeing German soldiers and rampaging Italian Fascists, increasingly becomes an exploration into his own consciousness as he ultimately comprehends the senseless barbarity of war. The Taviani brothers’ final film together was inspired by the posthumous novel by Beppe Fenoglio (1922-1963).