Brash Roman police detective Michele Balistreri grew up in Tripoli in the 1960s, when post-colonial Libya fell prey to the sprawling greed of the West. Young Michele, prone to using his fists instead of his intellect, needs little encouragement to join a gang of Fascistic youth. When he suffers a succession of personal blows --- the death of his mother, an unspeakable horror that befell his best friend's family, and the shame of his father's role in Gaddafi's ascendance to power --- he enters into a youthful blood pact that will corrupt the course of his future.