A storm causes Piccolo, son of a fishing boat captain, and his little dog Spazzola to be cast away on a small island cove. Determined to find his father and two older brothers and sure the winds and sea caused them to be shipwrecked on the same coast, Piccolo meets a very old man wearing a poncho and a large, straw hat. The island is Caprera and the venerable old man who lives alone with his four animals (Quarto the horse, Radetzky the cat, Caprera the capricious goat and Piemonte the Brazilian parrot) says to have known Garibaldi. In the 24 hours needed to find his loved ones, the boy listens to the old man?s simple words, recounting the history of Italy and the dispute among the European Powers. The man then tells of Garibaldi?s adventures as a young hero born in Nice traveling to Brazil. He recounts the meeting with Anita, his future bride, their move to the mainland during the ups and downs of the newly-born Roman Republic, Anita?s death in the Ravenna marshlands, the Expedition of the Thousand to Sicily and, finally, the heroic men and events that united Italy. The naïve, but attentive Piccolo is stupefied to learn from his father, found with his brothers safe along the island?s coast, that the lovable narrator is none other than Giuseppe Garibaldi himself, the hero of the Two Worlds. Garibaldi waves goodbye to his guests as the leave; he remains alone with his animals to watch over the Motherland from across the sea.