The heroes of the novel are residents of a provincial Italian town: eleven-year-old Cristiano Zena and his unemployed father Rino, a cruel, embittered, and heavy-drinking man. Rino, as he can, loves his son and raises him according to his own understanding of what a real man should be.
One day, the older Zena and two of his friends—just as aimless drunken layabouts as he is—decide to rob a cash machine and finally live “like humans.” But their plans are not destined to come true: on the stormy night they chose for the robbery, terrifying events occur that overturn their entire lives…