Omero, a former teacher who has just retired, decides to leave Rome, where he taught for 30 years and to get back to Sicily, the place where he was born. Alice, his eight year old grand-daughter, goes with him: she wants to visit her parents' homeland. The pair get to Naples by train and visit Orlando, Omero's brother, a vaudeville actor, who is still performing and who introduces them to the people working with him. The day after they get on the train to Reggio Calabria to catch the ferry to Sicily. When they get to Messina, they continue their journey by bus, after a circus show, which leaves the little girl overawed by the brightness of the performing children. Traveling together under the scorching Sicilian sun and meeting strange characters, the pair relationship gets stronger.