Sicily, first half of the 18th century. Marianna is deaf and dumb. She is locked in her own world full of sounds, rich in emotions, tensions, intelligence. She can feel every vibration of both people and things in the world around her. She is protected by her grand-mother and enfolded in the love of her desperate and taciturn mother. At the age of 13, she is forced to marry the old Duke Pietro. At the age of 16, she has already borne three children. As a young woman, her French tutor teaches her sign language, the pleasure of literature and the fire of the new philosophers and the new ideas. This education enables Marianna to become emancipated through culture and self-respect. Only counting on herself, Marianna will manage to break what seemed an inevitable destiny of repression and submission. All alone she discovers the terrible truth that has been covered up since her childhood.