It is based on Nino Di Maria's novel Cuori negli abissi.

"[2] The film presents the travel of a group of poor Sicilians to France in their dreams of a better life.

In a bar in town, Ciccio is recruiting workers for jobs in France.

Enough people to fill a bus, having sold their belongings to pay the fee, including Saro and his three young children, and Barbara and her man Vanni, who's in trouble with the law and desperate to flee Italy.

They are ordered by the police to return to Sicily or be charged with "illegal expatriation".