"An extraordinary and desperate novel" (Giampaolo Pansa) August, 1944: the Allies enter in Florence, the Partisans parade through the streets of the city, the people praise the liberators. But there is a fascist resistance that does not give up, and many young men are shooting from the buildings' roofs. Mario, the main character of this historical novel, is one of these: a sniper who wants to kill his enemies driven by a mixture of faith, anger and despair. He knows he will not last long, but he's also sure that the toughest will prevail somehow. His friend and mentor Berto Ricci - poet, mathematician and founder of the magazine «Universale' - tries to stop him and make him give up for his own sake. But in Mario's heart lies a strong passion that needs to burn.