It is September 8, 1943. Soldier Calonaci is on guard at the mortars - enrolled in the 121st regiment of infantry tonnage in Croatia - when his friend Cecchetti informs him that Badoglio has signed the armistice. The two soldiers embrace, shoot in euphoria, convinced that the war is finally over. Instead, one of the darkest pages for Italy begins. Their regiment, left without orders, returns to Fiume, where the command is passed to General Gambara, who is determined to collaborate with the Germans.

Treated as deserters for having abandoned the outpost, the two soldiers, together with their friends Mariotti and Giani, find themselves deciding whether to take up arms to fight together with the Germans or to be deported to the labor camps of the Third Reich.

A long journey begins for them, made up of misery and violence, but also of solidarity and love, inside the bowels of war