Flavio is sixteen years old, he is part of a poor family and for his liveliness he bears the nickname of the Tramontana. The parents emigrate to Switzerland, but they can't take it with them and entrust the boy to the monks. Father Biagio entices Flavio to conventual life. But the distance from the family causes a crisis. The boy secretly leaves the convent and returns to the village to his house, but finds it empty and closed, then returns in his footsteps.