Nino Garofalo, Nino Manfredi, is a migrant "guest worker" from Italy who ends up in Switzerland, where he works as a waiter. Like many southern Europeans of the period (1960s to early 1970s), his status is fragile, and a single misstep can topple his entire way of life. When he is caught urinating in public, his work permit is withdrawn, and he is forced into a clandestine life in a foreign land, where every day must be navigated with care and quiet resolve.
At the start of his new life, he finds some shelter and support from Elena, Anna Karina, a Greek woman and political refugee. Her aid becomes a lifeline as he tries to hold on to dignity in a world that seems set against him. Not long after, he crosses paths with an Italian industrialist, Johnny Dorelli, who has himself moved to Switzerland due to financial troubles. This newer ally takes Nino under his wing and invests his savings in what he believes could be a better future. Yet the partnership collapses tragically when the industrialist commits suicide, leaving Nino to wonder where his money has gone and how he might recover his future without the guidance he once believed he had.
With no formal support and a mounting sense of precarity, Nino is pushed to survive among a tight-knit circle of clandestine Neapolitans living in a chicken coop. They share scarce resources and tend to the same stubborn chickens, making do with what little they have while keeping a low profile in a system that treats them as disposable. The stark reality of their improvised life gradually shapes Nino’s choices and reframes what he is willing to risk in pursuit of security and belonging.
One day, a chance sighting of a group of blonde Swiss youths bathing in a river sparks a bold, if risky, plan. Nino dyes his hair to disguise himself and pass as a local, a decision that marks a turning point in how he moves through the country and how others perceive him. The disguise falters in a bar, where he openly roots for the Italy national football team during a match broadcast. The celebration of a goal by Fabio Capello reveals his true origins to those around him, and he is soon arrested and brought to a police station, his fate hanging in the balance.
In the bearable quiet after the storm, Elena reappears, offering a renewed permit that could anchor him to a life he has started to believe in. Yet Nino refuses this chance, choosing instead to face the uncertain road ahead on his own terms. The narrative then follows his decision to board a train, joining a cabin filled with returning Italian guest workers and listening to the shared songs of sun and sea as he contemplates the next steps in a world that remains complex, divided, and full of lingering doubts.
As the train car settles into its rhythm and the voices of fellow travelers blend with the creak of the carriage, Nino’s inner conflict expands from a struggle for daily survival to a broader question of identity, belonging, and the meaning of home. The film leaves him in a moment of quiet reflection, where the past and present pull in different directions, and the future remains uncertain but no longer merely a matter of bluster or flight. The journey, rather than any single destination, becomes the story of a man negotiating courage, loyalty, and the stubborn hope that life can be different, even in a place far from where he began.
