Bruno is a veteran of the Russian campaign who returned on foot to his Montepulciano.

Unlike the other veterans, his happiness at returning home is clouded by the death of his brother, a partisan shot by the Germans because of the betrayal of a fellow villager.

Determined to avenge his brother, he tries to get the name of the informer told, but the villagers, tired of the violence and the blood of the war, refused to reveal it.

Mastro Antonio, a modest carpenter friend of Bruno, for fear that he might be guilty of the crime of an innocent person, makes him believe that the man he is looking for is him.

Before passing away, the carpenter admits that he lied and sacrificed himself in place of the culprit.