Naples, 1956. Vittorio, age 11, lives in a shantytown of evacuees with his German mother, his father and little sister. The boy goes to school but tries to keep where he lives a secret from his schoolmates. In the meantime, he is full of dreams and Hollywood movies feed them: he is crazy about actress Susan Hayward and thinks he recognizes her in the wife of an American general for which his mother works as a maid. A friendship springs up between the boy and the woman, with Vittorio believing he is performing the important role of safeguarding his movie-star idol, increasing his desire to go to America to escape daily hardships.
