Naive, daydreaming 10-year-old Vito Putori is suddenly awakened by gunshots and the rattle of a machine-gun fire. He "hears", from his hidding place, the whole family being massacred. Traumatized, he runs to the cave (normally off-limits) where he expects to find his big brother.
His brother is dead, along with another boy, killed by a bullet to the temple. Vito picks up the boy's schoolbag just as a man emerges from the shadows.
Terrified, Vito runs for his life, followed by the man. They traverse the village, but all the shutters are closed. Just in the nick of time, Vito escapes from the killer by leaping onto a train...