After a brilliant career as a fencer, Paolo works as a sports journalist for a small newspaper. A friend, Franz, dies of a heart attack. He was a former fencing champion like himself, and had become a businessman, like many in that rich Northern province. Unexpectedly, Paolo finds out that his friend’s life wasn’t as straight-forward as he thought. Even his death is unclear. For Paolo the search for the truth becomes an intrusion in a world far from him, that of the rich entrepreneurs of the factories. It’s a dirty but fascinating environment, an occasion for unusual encounters, like those with Giordano’s rich children: Chiara, the young strong-headed girl; the little Leo, affected by a form of autism that will help Paolo shed some light on his friend Franz’s life and the circumstances of his death.