It's the dawn of April 25, 1974, when Marco, a 25-year old Italian and his Portuguese friend Victor leave Paris on a yellow Citroen 2CV. The goal of their trip is Lisbon, which on that night was freed from Europe's longest dictatorship. The two are joined by Claire, Victor's former girlfriend and University classmate, who wants to take a break from her everyday life, leaving behind her husband and baby son, to form again, even for a few days, the traveling trio with her friends.

A young man, Andrea, from the bourgeoisie of Lugano, with power in high finance, falls in love with a beautiful pianist, Antonia. Antonia leaves his fabulous career for the love she feels for him. Soon the beautiful women leads him in a growing state of jealousy which leads to a murderous obsession. The young man tells his passion to an unknown, in an airport while waiting for a flight.

Maciste, the first, the one who appeared in Pastrone's film, Cabiria (1916), leaves the screen, evoked by the critic and film historian Steve Della Casa. He wants to know who he is and what he did. Della Casa will help him find his other self, that Bartolomeo Pagano, a camallo (unloader) from the port of Genoa who saw his life transformed by the meeting with the director Pastrone.