Italy in 2025 is on the brink of collapse: borders are closed, banks withhold money, armed gangs of drug-fuelled youths roam the countryside. Leonardo was a well-known writer and academic before a sex scandal ended his marriage and career. He takes refuge in his remote vineyard home, but nowhere is safe with society at the tipping point of anarchy. His ex-wife entrusts him with his daughter, Lucia, and another child by her second marriage. But when their home is ransacked, they see no choice but to try to cross to France. Sleeping rough and scavenging as best they can, they face horror and violence unlike any they have encountered before. Leonardo will come to understand that if he is to bring the children to safety he must confront evil head on and, in doing so, shed every trace of his former self.