After being double crossed by his most trusted operative, a ruthless crime lord takes revenge by kidnapping the her son. Overwhelmed with fear, the operative is given one night to make up for her misdeeds by systematically eliminating his enemies. As the hours rush by, the steaks begin to rise and the darkened city streets turn into a brutal and bloody battle ground.

We are with Pasolini during the last hours of his life, as he talks with his beloved family and friends, writes, gives a brutally honest interview, shares a meal with Ninetto Davoli, and cruises for the roughest rough trade in his gun-metal gray Alfa Romeo. Over the course of the action, Pasolini’s life and his art are constantly refracted and intermingled to the point where they become one.

In Rome in the thirties lives Nito Valdi, a difficult boy just out of the reformatory, who works for a local boss together with his friend Tony. The meeting with the beautiful Carmen will take Nito's life to an unexpected turn: after the loss of his greatest friend, with the arrival of fascism Valdi approaches the Blackshirts, while he becomes Carmen's worst nightmare. Nito is obsessed with her and wants her at any cost. But Carmen is expecting a child with Giancarlo, scion of one of the most prominent families in Rome: the Fontamaras. The story of Carmen and Nito, who turns out to be a Nazi psychopath, is intertwined with that of the Fontamaras, who have just discovered that they have Jewish origins and therefore must leave Italy to avoid falling victim to those like Valdi.