Valerio Rossello is a judge, with a rigid and uncompromising mentality. He is married to Lucia, a woman who instead follows the model of a loving and protective mother. From their union only one child was born: Maurizio. Both parents raise him completely differently, highlighting their character differences. Until the day when Maurizio, now a teenager, together with a friend commits an attack for futile reasons against a gas station attendant. Having learned of the incident, Valerio and Lucia also in this case intend to face the situation in a diametrically opposite way. The conflicts within the family thus strongly resurface, in which, amidst rebounds of responsibility, the errors of both parents emerge in the upbringing of their child.

Due genitori hanno atteggiamenti diversi verso il loro unico figlio, severo il padre, tollerante la madre. Ma quando questi finirä in guai grossi le cose muteranno.

Der junge Römer Maurizio, Sohn aus gutem Hause, wird in einen Raubmord verwickelt. Seine Mutter Lucia, die ihren verzogenen Spross seit Jahren verwöhnt und verhätschelt, macht sich zu seinem Komplizen: Sie setzt ihren Mann Valerio unter Druck, damit er die Bluttat vertuscht. Als pflichtbewusster Staatsanwalt, der wegen seiner unkorrumpierbaren Gesetzestreue befördert werden soll, steht Valerio vor einer schweren Entscheidung. Mit dieser Verfilmung eines Theaterstücks gelang Turi Vasile ein zeitloses Drama über Schuld und Sühne.