We meet the protagonist when she is fifteen, while going to the city for the first time. We follow her in her search for fulfillment through the work outside the family, beyond the usual expectations of a girl at the time when to be something different than a mother was difficult, if not impossible.

We live through her tragedies, suffering and her love of life that is essentially accurately tied to historical facts and events that help emphasize a very well focused framework.

The novel tells the story of a woman caught up in the full years of her life. It is, mostly, a tale of love even if there are many ways you can interpret the story while reading the book. But it is not, though, only Alvimar's love story, it is also answers questions: What was the economic situation in the period between the two World Wars in a small town in northern Italy? In what way and by how much were ordinary people involved in fascism and partisan affairs?

The novel provides some of these answers, of course partially since it tells only what the characters of the book know; although they are original answers, outside the stereotype, which maintains Italy was monolithically and consciously anti-fascist from the start.