It is 1922. An Italian veteran of WWI, Anthony Anselmo is assigned by his wealthy grandfather to award the widows of soldiers in his company who were killed in The Great War To End All Wars . He arrives in Chicago Heights, and while delaying talking to the widow Rosa Gambriotti, accepts a job working at a local Steel mill. Anselmo is trying to forget his past; he is burdened by the guilt he feels for his actions in the war, and is further puzzled by the mysterious death of his own brother in that same war. Drawn to Rosa’s best friend, Lina Bright, who has her own WWI experiences (as a doctor pretending to be a nurse - a ploy to get to the front lines where she can save lives), Anselmo has a last chance to find understanding and redemption.

The conditions in the steel mill are deadly dangerous, the pay is low and the mill is ripe for a labor strike. When the strike begins, both sides soon become desperate: after several failed attempts to break the strike, the mill owners decide to ship cattle cars of black strikebreakers up from Louisiana. They come by train and are met by an angry mob of strikers armed with bats and flaming torches.

At the same time, Anselmo becomes increasingly aware that his own life is in danger: the same people who killed his brother are now intent on killing him. It is 1922, and in Italy Benito Mussolini and his black shirts have come into power. Difficult and dangerous times in both Italy and America.