Michele, a shepherd of Orgoloso, Sardinia who is wrongly suspected of involvement with bandits he encountered who committed pig rustling and killed a policeman, flees to the hills with his flock, which he bought on credit after a poor previous year, and young shepherd brother, rather than surrender and risk losing them during the investigation and thus his family's income.

He is pursued by police and, in his journey into the inaccessible areas of Barbagia, where there is little water or pasture, loses his sheep.

One night, deep in debt and facing impending trials, he enters a sheepfold and steals another shepherd's flock.

Banditi a Orgosolo was De Seta's first fiction feature film.

The film originally started as a documentary with the actors credited as Sardinian Shepherds.