September 1942. Davide is an uneducated but sensitive pigskeeper, a dreamer who imagines a life beyond his small town in Southern Italy—away from the animals he cares for, from the other children who mock him for the limp he has born since birth, and the brutal hand of his Mussolini-loving father. Teresa, his friend and the only person with the courage to defend him from the schoolroom bullies, also yearns to escape. She hopes to go to Rome before she is trapped in a marriage of convenience arranged by her parents. When a group of thirty-six Jews from Naples forcibly relocated by the Fascist authorities arrives, everyday life begins to change. Among them is Nicolas, a boy who brings with him an unknown world that is initially met with animosity by the villagers. But when Nicolas’ father sets up an underground school, Davide begins to attend classes and soon, as he learns to read, this illiterate herdsman begins a journey that will change him forever. As Davide, Teresa, and Nicolas grow