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Naples, 1847. Maria and her two daughters, Carolina and Antonia, earn their living as street hustlers with the girls' father, Iginio Cuoio. When the man discovers Antonia's singing audition, which could lead her to tread the stages of Milan's most prestigious theaters, he punishes Maria and his daughter, shattering their dream. But Carolina goes beyond herself, determined to fulfill Antonia's aspiration and save her mother and sister from the misery in which they live, risking, despite herself, losing her great love, Saverio.

Maria, Antonia and Carolina manage to escape and, on their long journey, get a ride to Milan from Domenico Bernasca, the owner of the inn “La mano di ferro.” Once in town, however, they must accept that Antonia has lost the role she obtained from the audition she did in Naples and are forced to ask for help from Domenico himself, who offers room and board in his tavern in exchange for their work. Maria, meanwhile, seeks help for Antonia from the famous singing master Crescenzi and the tenor Giacomo Lotti. Carolina, on the other hand, goes to a scribe, the young intellectual Enrico De Marchi, to get a letter written and get in touch with Saverio