Barbara Mastroianni

In 1914, a cruise ship sets sail from Naples to spread the ashes of beloved opera singer Edmea Tetua near Erimo, the isle of her birth. During the voyage, the eclectic array of passengers discovers a group of Serbian refugees aboard the vessel. Peace and camaraderie abound until the ship is descended upon by an Austrian flagship. The Serbians are forced to board it, but naturally they resist, igniting a skirmish that ends in destruction.

In 1880 Rome, a patriarch closes the family bakery. His ambitious daughter-in-law manipulates her brothers-in-law to prevent their father's remarriage, securing her inheritance.

A disaffected media executive spends his days watching violent programming on the television screens in his office and his evenings neglecting his frustrated wife at home. The monotonicity is disturbed when he is contacted by an old friend who confides in him he is being threatened by mysterious assassins.

The story is set in Illyria, fictional central European country, towards the end of World War II. A young man infiltrates into the house of a left-wing politician as his secretary. By order of the Communist party, the young man has to kill the politician, who is suspected of a strategy of compromise with other parties.