Do you know your father? Do you know who he really is? Do you know his past? Forty-year-old teacher Ilaria would probably have answered yes to these questions, and she thought she knew her family, too - until one day a young African man sits on the landing outside her apartment in Rome and claims to be related to her. His identification card reads: Attilio Profeti, which is the name of her father ... But he is too old to give any information. This is where Ilaria's journey of discovery begins, and from here Francesca Melandri unfolds an almost unbelievable family history spanning three generations and an unsparing portrait of Italian society.