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In Italian with English subtitles. Inspector Federico Vivaldi is an old-school cop in a new world: his son is gay, his wife has left him and an ambitious colleague is angling to take over his position. He may be old-fashioned, but he's resilient enough to find his way in his new reality.

After enlisting himself in the well-known Italian police corps, "Carabinieri", and after becoming friend with the young Guido, at the breakout of the war, Salvo D'acquisto leaves Naples and Italy to fight in the African war, between Fascist Italy and Great Britain. However Guido has changed and he has fallen in love with a young African Muslim girl; Salvo, who has promised to Guido's sister to protect him during the war in Africa, cannot convince him to give this love up. Besides during a patrol drive an English aircraft throws itself on them and shoots them and Guido remains dead in the desert, preventing Salvo from bringing him back safe and sound to Italy. When he goes back to Italy on furlough, the sister weeps and gets angry with him and she cannot accept the love of Salvo anymore. However this tragedy opens the eyes of the policeman Salvo again and he realizes through the words of the anti-fascist friend Walter, whose dad professor has been suspended by the teaching at university for turning down the card of Fascist Party (necessary to keep state jobs), that not only the war is going badly for Mussolini. In the meantime in 1943 Walter is also saved by Salvo and the sister of Guido from a deportation train to Germany. Salvo in the end is compelled as a soldier to cooperate with Germans. It happens that some German soldiers turn out to be killed by an explosion of bombs, which have been left in the barracks of Finance's guards (another military police corps like carabinieri, whose task is the one of fiscal and financial control,who are also employed in war expeditions); The Germans soon resort to the retaliation and took civilians to be shot, because the guilty ones will never be found and the German commanders will be subject to enquiry and shooting by German high command: Salvo asks to the Germans for the possibility of saving the prisoners, who haven't any guilt, and even if he knows that Germans realize his innocence in a small village southern from Rome he offers his life, and he will be executed, forcing the Germans to set the civilians free; till now apart from members of military police, who have fallen in actions during the previous wars and peace-keeping operations of the so-called Arma dei Carabinieri, Salvo D'Acquisto is recognized as the Hero of the Corps and his portrayal is hung in every office and barracks of this military corps and a lot of barracks are named after him.

Federico Vivaldi, a police inspector in Trieste, has an ex-wife with whom he is still on good terms and a 25-year-old son, Stefano, who works for the police with his father while studying for a law degree. One evening, a girl is killed at a party on the coast. Stefano was present at the party with some friends but omits to tell his father this. He fears that Federico will find out that he is gay, especially as the chief suspect is Damjan, an Austrian model with whom Stefano is having an affair. When Federico finds out that his son was present at the party, Stefano confesses that he is homosexual. Federico doesn't understand, thinking that he must have gone wrong somewhere in raising his son. However, as he gets to know Damjan and finally discovers the true culprit, he gradually comes to terms with his son's homosexuality

After an accident Gaetano is sent into retirement and his horse, Nestore, faces the prospect of being cat food. But Nestore refuses and Gaetano decides to run off with him, enlisting the help of his grandson, Ferruccio.