1828. In the wake of the repression of revolutionary movements in Southern Italy, three young friends join Giuseppe Mazzini's republican and unificationist cause. Their idealism will clash with the inevitable disillusionment as they grow apart over the decades.

In late 19th-century Sicily, the noble Uzeda family—whose lineage dates back to the ancient viceroys that ruled those lands—fights to preserve its waning power in the face of the newly unified Italian regime.

During the Battle of Custoza (1848), a platoon of Piedmontese soldiers has barricaded itself in a secluded house, surrounded by the Austrian enemies. The captain commits his destiny and the one of his soldiers to the young tambourinist, a Sardinian child animated by an overwhelming patriotic spirit.