"There's something stronger than pain, and it's habit," Terranova writes of eleven-year-old Nicola and his relationship with his abusive mother in Calabria. Each night, in a dark basement, he waits for the sun to rise and with it, a sliver of freedom. In Messina, on the other side of the narrow strait, Barbara seeks to escape the loveless marriage her father is pressing on her.
On December 28th, 1908, Europe's most devastating earthquake - which in historical fact will kill over 150,000 people - razes Reggio Calabria and Messina and, along with them, everything familiar to Nicola and Barbara. Their two stories and parallel destinies reverberate with the tenacity of human resilience. Out of the ruins, each with piece back together a life.