Andrea Licari, a Tunisian of Italian descent now 60 years of age, has become an accomplished author, college professor and a leading thinker in Rome. Today, Andrea finds himself facing the most challenging time of his life.
In 1986, Rita Levi-Montalcini receives the Nobel Prize, but something is missing. After meeting a young violinist, the scientist faces a difficult choice: take refuge in fame or get back in the game.
It is Christmas 1908 in Messina, one of the richest merchant cities of the Mediterranean. Peter, the 13 year-old son of a rich English family is notorious for his cruelty to children, animals and servants. One night he is ambushed and wakes up in a coffin underground in the city's Gothic cemetery, buried in retaliation for his callousness by a servant boy from his mother's estate. When a powerful earthquake razes Messina to the ground, Peter is trapped and his whereabouts are forgotten. Until a century later an English archaeologist and his daughter arrive in the city.