The script is based on the Prix Goncourt winning novel Oublier Palerme (1966) by French author Edmonde Charles-Roux.

Carmine Bonavia is candidate for mayor of New York City on the issue of drug legalization.

In the hotel in Palermo he meets a Sicilian prince who has been confined there for years because he crossed the mafia.

He discovers the beauties of the Italian island but is also framed by men of power, for a crime he did not commit.

He discovers that those men will stop at nothing to prevent the legalization of drugs, which threatens their business, and is forced to decide between joining them or going to prison.