In the 15th century, in a poor Italian village, the monks of a modest convent take up an abandoned baby. Unfortunately, for all their efforts, they prove unable to trace his parents. So they set up providing tender loving care to the little boy. Marcellino lives a happy life among the men of God but, as he grows up, he misses his mother more and more.
The innkeeper Carmelo subdues a good deal in the sale of his two-Arab tavern.
Enrico Bottini, an engineering student, prepares to serve as an officer when Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. At the train station, he meets Garrone, an old friend from elementary school, and begins to reminisce on the values instilled to him by both school and his father.
