An American company, Wendell-Crenshaw Technologies, unveils its most recent creation: Echelon, a new system designed for the National Security Agency that will allow for extraordinary capabilties in tracking and recording conversations and information. In Rome, a student, Francesca Savelli (Maya Sansa), inadvertently picks up a bag that contains materials about the new system; when they realize that the bag is gone, agents for Wendell-Crenshaw as well as for the NSA track her down and sequester her, convinced that her act was deliberate and part of plot to steal the new technology. Suddenly, Francesca gets caught up in the labyrinthine world of state secrets and industrial espionage. A fresh take on a genre not seen often in the Italian cinema, as well as a film (sadly) of great contemporary resonance, The Listening offers a chilling look at the modern cult of surveillance.