Four men are hiding in the mountains of Sicily, all having become bandits against their will. In this world of upheaval following the war, a human life is worth little. The rich order beatings and murders, while the poor, hired and forced, must do it themselves. Paolo, Antonio, Lorenzo, and Michele are trying at all costs to get a passport to Venezuela. But their dream of a better life is unlikely to ever come true; deep down, they have known this for a long time. The situation is no different for the people in the villages. There is little time to think in this desperate Sicily; there is hardly time to live for a few moments "before they kill you.".