Saverio D'Ercole

In the Tuscan countryside at the end of the 19th century, Pietro, the shy son of a tyrannical landowner, falls in love with Ghisola, a peasant girl with no family. His father has her sent away. Years later, the two meet again: still in love with her, Pietro would like to marry her, but she has become the mistress of a married man.

Old Sanna lives in the mountain village of Gschaid. At Christmas, she receives a long-awaited visit: Sanna's son with his wife and children. At the same time, mountaineers make a gruesome discovery. The body of a man is recovered from the ice of the Alpine glacier. It is Martin, who saved the lives of Sanna and her brother many years ago. Sanna's grandchildren are eager to hear the whole story. And so Sanna tells them about the two hostile villages of Gschaid and Millsdorf and a miraculous rescue from the ice and snow at Christmas.

The story of Padre Pio (1887-1968) from the onset of the stigmata during World War I, when he prayed that soldiers' suffering be his, until his death. The story is told by Emilia, Pio's friend, to a Vatican official reviewing Padre Pio's potential canonization. We watch local people venerate the humble Capuchin monk, we see petty jealousies within the Church almost bring him down, and we experience his decision to build a Home for the Relief of Suffering, a labor of love begun just after World War II. Emilia and her husband Dr. Sanguineti work tirelessly beside the humble but sensible Pio.