Late Middle Ages. Agostino lives in poverty with his wife Nina and son Giovanni outside a small village at the foot of the mountains. An immense mountain rises like a wall, stopping the sun's rays and thus reducing their farmland to stones and twigs. Despite all suggestions to move away for a better life, Agostino insists his family's fate lies there between the peaks. He firmly believes that a man's roots cannot betray him. Agostino struggles in vain to find a solution to better provide for his starving family. But their lives do not improve, and Agostino decides to challenge the ancient mountain's immensity and power.