Synopsis:

Pietro, the teacher of a remedial class for kids who have failed courses often or dropped out of school prematurely, would, at heart, just like to do a good job teaching Italian without drawing attention to himself. His shyness is like a mystery, a kind of fear, something unspoken and difficult to understand. But when Luisa, the school’s coordinator, is assaulted as a punishment for having helped an ex-student leave the world of prostitution – and on the insistence of Manuela, his companion in work and life - Pietro, despite his shyness and distress, takes on the role in order to begin the schoolyear.
His task is to convince the students on the enrolment list to come to school, or the course will be permanently cancelled.
Pietro uses every means to achieve his goal: from threatening Teresa and Toto, who live in a state of neglect with their three younger brothers and sisters and are in danger of ending up in an institution, to flattering Anna, who demands Pietro’s help in writing her “novel”; from a welcoming sweetness with Lena, who does not speak, to explicit blackmail with Gennaro who has stolen and risks prison. There is a determination in him that leads him to “cut a deal with the devil” – a member of the Camorra, the Neapolitan Mafia, a man named “Pescecane” (Shark).
Pietro wants to get Davidello, the son of a small-time criminal who has died in prison, off the streets.
Alternating irony, courage and the ability to mediate, Pietro finally manages to convince the entire group to come to class and guides them, through a thousand contradictions, towards their middle school diploma.
And just when everything seems to be going well, out of Pietro’s past the mystery reappears, a secret and tragic event that has left emotional scars in his life…