Nicola Carbone is an businessman. He's an upright man, a vertical (that nothing can bring down) man. He lives and runs his shop in Foggia, a city oppressed by mafia. Spichisi is a mafia boss of Foggia. He has known Nicola since he was a child. But now things have changed, Spichisi wants Nicola to sign a document for which he will sell his business to the boss and he will only be a pawn in the mafia. Nicola and Spichisi suffer from insomnia, this will lead them to mix reality and fantasy, often entering and exiting strange dreams. Nicola will resist the harassment, the beatings, the destruction of the shop, remaining a vertical man, until the end, until his death. He will thus be able to convince the other merchants close to him to file a complaint and frame Spichisi?
—Roberto Moretto