Italy, 1950s. A fourteen-year-old boy, Carlo, killed Emilio, a disabled guy hosted by the local priest. The Italian Ministry of Interior wants to clarify what happened. The relation between the political institutions and the Church is tense. The ruling Christian party needs to protect the Church to keep its power. Carlo, the young murderer, talks about the Devil and accuses a nun of instigating him to kill his victim, Emilio. Carlo believes that Emilio caused the death of Paolino, Carlo's best friend, two years earlier. Carlo wants to bring Paolino back from the land of the dead. By trying to do so, Carlo kills Emilio, thinking that he is an incarnation of the Devil.