The survivors of World War II wander throughout liberated Italy, searching for their past and a future. Tired of wandering, a group of men and women who’ve lost everything, decide to try to restore something from among the rubble and to set out on a new life. Based on extracts from Le Donne di Messina by Elio Vittorini.

Based on Elio Vittorini’s Conversations in Sicily, narrating the return of an intellectual to his native Sicily after a long absence. Moving beyond the original’s immediate context—the increasing oppression of pre-war Italy—Straub/Huillet offer a touching look at the state of permanent exile common to all of those who can’t go home again.