It’s 1978. The hottest summer in a century. Everything in the tiny village of Acque Traverse seems motionless, dormant: school’s out, the adults hide indoors to escape the heat, which smothers all. Only a small group of children moves freely around the town and the surrounding countryside, playing games and venturing off.
During one of these jots about, little Michele, nine years old, comes across an incredible secret: the town’s "grown-ups" are holding a child – just around Michele’s own age – captive in a pit within an abandoned house.