In the spring of 1896, Tiburzi the brigand returns after more than five years of mysterious exile to the Maremma, the land he ruled outright for quarter of a century. But circumstances have changed: the House of Savoy now firmly controls this once unruly and savage territory. Upon hearing of his return, the anxious authorities send the foremost italian expert on banditry to Grosseto, the provincial capital. Michele Giacheri, a Carabinieri captain from Piedmont has distinguished himself by successfully supressing banditry in both Calabria and Lombardy. Together with his trusty aid, Lieutenant Silvio Rizzoli, Giacheri uncovers a complex network of complicity and intrigue that allowed for Tiburzi’s uncontested reign of power. The wealthy local landowners (Prince Corsini, The Marchese Guqlielmi and Member of Parliament Collacchioni among them) supported the notorious bandit with the intention of maintaining the sort of iron fisted order that the italian state (created in 1861) could not guarantee. Separate man hunts are painstakingly organized by the armed forces and the landowners. Each group will try to be the first to capture this “inconvenient”‘ and charismatic protagonist of the Maremma’s recent past. by now, old and lame Tiburzi refuses to recognize the political and social changes that have occurred in his absence and ignores the circle closing in on him. He will be caught and killed between October 23rd & 24th, 1896, in a farm house near Capalbio, where he had sought refuge only a few hours earlier.