A thief and a priest end up magically transported in the year 0's Palestine, where they'll have to make sure that the Nativity will follow its course.

Milan, Italy, 1967. Santo Russo, a boy of Calabrian origin, arrives north with his parents and younger brother to find better living conditions. Due to an absurd misunderstanding and his father's contempt, Santo ends up in prison, where he gets a “true education.” In 1978, he and his friends Slim and Mario embark on a 15-year criminal career, a successful and ruthless spiral of robberies, kidnappings, murders and heroin smuggling.

A man in his forties has had enough. He leaves his loveless family, uninspiring job and fake friends and tries to find something more. He meets a young woman he falls for, but she puts him on the test.

Cecilia is a commoner who runs an inn, where the specialty is the "spaghetti alla carbonara". Moreover, the woman is tied to the movement of young patriots, named "Carbonari", who want a united Italy, and are struggling against the power of the pope. Cecilia believes she lost her husband in a fatal accident, and has made a new lover: Fabrizio, who is also a patriot. One day the guy's saved by a monk, when he is about to be imprisoned by the soldiers of Cardinal Rivarola. The monk is the husband of Cecilia, not dead in the accident, and now he helps her to fight against the power of Rome with the Carbonari.

The movie is based on the autobiography of Horst Fantazzini. Son of an anarchist, he was known in Northern Italy as “the gentleman bandit” because he robbed banks without violence, with only a toy gun. After many convictions and jailbreaks, in the summer of 1973 he's being held in Fossano, Piedmont when he tries to escape again. This time things get messy and he has to use a real gun and take two prison guards as hostages.