Forced to leave his family in Sicily, Mimí finds a job in a factory in Turin, where he gets involved in an extramarital affair.

In Sicily, mine worker Carmelo "Mimí" Mardocheo votes in the Communist Party candidate instead of the Mafia's one, believing that the suffrage is secret. After the elections, he loses his job and cannot find another in his village that is controlled by the mobster Don Calogero. He leaves his wife Rosalia with his family and travels to Turin expecting to find a job. He finds an illegal position in the civil construction that is also explored by the Mafia, and when a co-worker dies in an accident, he finds that the mobsters have dumped his body on the road. However, he does not report the crime to the police and lies to mobster Salvatore Tricarico, saying that he belongs to the family of a powerful mobster. Mimi gets a metallurgic position and joins the Communist Party. Then he fall in love with virgin Trotskyite street vendor Fiorella Meneghini and they have a son. When Mimi witnesses mobster Vico Tricarico executing several men in a hotel, he survives but does not report to the police. He is transferred to Catania in a supervisory position against his will. He brings Fiore and their son to Sicily, but he is still married to Rosalia; claiming to be ill, he doesn't have sex with her. When he learns that she's pregnant, he find that he is a cuckold and plots to seduce and impregnate Amalia Finocchiaro, the wife of Rosalia's lover. Will his revenge work as planned?—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

After voting against the powerful Mafia candidate in Sicily in what he thought was a secret ballot, impecunious Mimì finds himself with his back to the wall. Desperate and with no one to turn to, he abandons his wife Rosalia and relocates to the bustling city of Turin, only to fall for beautiful Trotskyist Fiore. One child later, as one thing leads to another, Mimì gradually realizes that he is not ready to accept the new social morals that prevail in the industrialized north, again catching the Mafia's attention. Political beliefs, loyalty, infidelity, and revenge become inextricably intertwined, and again Mimì is left with nothing, having no other choice but to return to Sicily. But can he keep his life in Turin secret?—Nick Riganas

Mimi is a Sicilian dockworker who loses his job when he votes against the Mafia candidate in what he thinks is a secret ballot. He leaves his wife behind and goes to Turin, where he meets and moves in with Fiore, a street vendor and Communist organizer. They have a child, he works non-union jobs, and again he comes to the Mafia's attention. This time they're impressed, promoting him to a supervisor's job back in Sicily. He must keep Fiore and the child a secret, which is fine with Fiore, as long as he never makes love to his wife. He doesn't, and when she becomes pregnant, he knows he's a cuckold. His personal revenge and the Mafia's tentacles then intertwine in tragicomic ways.—<[email protected]>