Teresa, a mother from the Lazio suburbs, finds herself making an extreme gesture to defend her family from an unscrupulous loan shark. After serving her prison sentence, she must face the return to everyday life.

Italy, WWII. After his anti-fascist mother is arrested, Mario spends his childhood on the streets. In 1947 they are miraculously reunited and start a new life in America. Based on the life of Mario Capecchi, 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine.