Young Vittorio Innocente is the pampered son of Cristina, a woman whose husband has left for Italy for work in North America. Beneath her placid surface Cristina yearns to escape the restictive village and one day Vittorio is startled to find her in the families stable, her ankle swelling from a snakebite. But what really happened to Cristina that day becomes the center of this tale- a story of passion and superstition beneath pastoral calm, a mothers secret life...