1860, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. While Garibaldi's troops are invading this lawless territory, four female bandits nicknamed the "Drudes" are looking for their own personal revenge.
Giuseppe Tornatore traces three generations of a Sicilian family in in the Sicilian town of Bagheria (known as Baarìa in the local Sicilian dialect), from the 1930s to the 1980s, to tell the story of the loves, dreams and delusions of an unusual community.