Michela, an inexperienced journalist, is shy and introvert; she hides herself her strong willed and life loving nature. Angela, sunny, intense, almost like teenager, represents what Michela could be, but still is still afraid of.
They live in the same building, in time, a friendship could start, but Angela is brutally killed in mysterious circumstances.
Michela wants to investigate into this murder, as the only gesture she can make towards her “failed friend”. Thus, she challenges her problems and weaknesses. Michela explores Angela’s past. She is almost unaware that she is bringing back to light a life marked by continuous abuse, covered by the silence of her family.
Many voices try to dissuade Michela from her search for truth. However, she feels attracted to and trusts Momcilo, a great friend of Angela’s, who will set her on the right course. Momcilo, in spite of his obscure past and the strong suspicion hovering over him as Angela’s possible killer, is in actual facts the only one who had always respected and understood the young woman.
Thanks to him, Michela will discover that the causes of Angela’s suffering are preserved in the family house. An incestuous relationship with her stepfather, which started in her adolescence, and never really ended, pushed Angela to create a lifestyle only superficially serene and lively. Angela, who was always at the center of the attention, never realized she provoked envy and jealousy in other women. In fact, Sabrina, who was secretly in love with Momcilo, in a moment of jealousy killed Angela.
Michela, in her attempt to find the killer, uncovers a painful past, that otherwise would have stayed forever hidden. She learns how not to fear loving life as much as she wants.
From the novel by Dacia Maraini.