September 1938. While in Rome Mussolini consolidates his power through policies that will soon lead to the racial laws, three figures disembark on Capraia from the steamship Pianosa: a convicted man with the gaze of a killer, an entomologist in search of butterflies, and a priest following the traces of the ancient hermit monks who once lived on the island.
An island of stones and dust, shrubs and scents. An island that conceals—much, perhaps too much. For months now, all trace has been lost of a young inmate from the agricultural penal colony, who disappeared under circumstances that no one seems able to clarify, not even the official investigation, which reached a far from convincing conclusion. In the quiet of Capraia, among its silent lanes, every window hides watching eyes and listening ears, and suspicion soon falls on those who ask too many questions: is there anyone who can be trusted? Or does every question place one’s own life at risk? As the days pass, events unfold rapidly and unpredictably, revealing unimaginable relationships and intrigues, shielded by the island’s timeless silences.
