Captain Loyola is about to leave Sicily and the Bourbon army for France when he is ordered to escort a prisoner from Palermo to Messina. He refuses at first but changes his mind when he gets to know the name of the prisoner, Grifone.
A few years before, Grifone had kidnapped Angelica, Loyola's fiancée, just on the day before she was due to marry him.
Now, time has come for the captain to take his revenge on the old enemy. Guided by Sergeant Uzeda, the two men travel through a rebellious Sicily, with a just disembarked Garibaldi and the Bourbon army in retreat.
It's a dramatic trip, hunted by their respective recollections of Angelica, the true soul of this story. The memory of her through the tale of the other plunges the two men in a deep crisis.
They are different men at the end of the trip, with a different opinion of each other, until the final act of Loyola who sacrifices his own life for Grifone's freedom.